Visited a small nook at Pasir Ris to see if there was any appearance by the rarely seen Greater Painted Snipe(GPS). However, the disappointment came not only from a no show (which I had been expecting) from this shy bird, but mainly from the wanton use and discard of styrofoam boards on the muddy ground.
I had previously seen photographers use these boards to stand their tripods on them or even sit their chairs on the boards whilst waiting for the GPS to show but I had assumed that the photographers would know better than to simply abandon the boards on the ground once their watch was over.
As can be seen in the photo, some bit of the boards had broken off and littered the muddy ground. The smaller bits of styrofoam will likely remain in the ground for a very very long time (forever by human lifetime references) and I hope the GPS or some other animal would not inadvertently consume the muddied styrofoam granules peppering the muddy ground.
The two photographers on the right who have been masked out are doing the RIGHT thing as pictured by using boots and being unafraid of the mud. The styrofoam boards to the left were probably left by other photographer(s) doing the WRONG thing.
Perhaps it is time for bird photographers to pay more attention to how they go about their art and to take a critically reflective attitude towards some basic dos and don'ts. Peer pressure by other photographers should also be practised to encourage the baddies to practise good common sense. It would be a shame if the GPS or some other animal suffered fatally from ingesting the undigestable styrofoam bits.
The bird photography community will know who the lazy photographers are and what little value to accord to their images....all of them. Professionalism does count.
I hope I maintain a decent standard of good practice as well.
It should not be too difficult.
Thanks for highlighting. These photographers could have cleared the Styrofoam! Nonetheless, I believe you have already cleared them. Thanks!
ReplyDeletedear yychong,
ReplyDeleteunfortunately, i did not clear the styrofoam boards. i chickened out.
the boards were in an especially soft and muddy section and I was not wearing boots.
I guess I could have ventured further and interrupted the two on the right and cleared the boards despite their patient wait and probably scared off the GPS if it was just about to come out thereby earning the spite of the two patient eco-friendly photographers.
on hindsight, i should have gone ahead and braved the mud again this weekend.
i had, the day before, twice in the span of half an hour, been up to my gonads in soft stinky mud in a quiet corner of the Lim Chu Kang mangrove and needed assistance in extracting myself.
having done my tiny bit part in the 6th Annual National Day Mangrove Cleanup at Lim Chu Kang where over 750kg of trash was removed), i guess i was pre-disposed to not getting myself even the slightest bit muddy the very next day.
see http://otterman.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/41-volunteers-clear-34-ton-of-trash-at-lim-chu-kang-mangrove/
yes, on hindsight, i should braved the mud and removed the styrofoam boards and bits.
nevermind if I disturbed the GPS or the other photographers ... it would have been better for the birds.
a little mud can easily be cleaned off.
boots or no boots.