Some photographers Really Piss me off

I live between 2 reservoirs yesterday my wife and I drove to one and was shooting at a eagle, I was using my 1D on my 600mm with a 1.4TC on it this gives me 1344mm so I was shooting from about 400 feet.

I'm shooting from behind the wheel of my car when this car pulls up and a guy and his wife get out both had point & shoot cameras he walks over and starts telling me how Superior his camera was and how they came their often to photograph the eagles.

He his wife and teenage boy go down to the river he wades over to a island in the middle of the river so he can get right under the tree that the eagle was in.
It flew down the river his wife and boy was waiting she took pictures as it flew by her her boy was farther down stream he waved his arms and shouted and the eagle turned and went back up the river and both of them was shooting at it again.

I left and went to the administration office but since it was Sunday only one guy on duty he worked for the Army Corps of Engineers and he did nothing.

We returned 3 hours later and they were still their harassing the eagles.
I just can not believe how stupid some people are.

People are idiots, plain and simple.
I think we have seen that time and time again.
Especially in the last week with the shootings.

You did the right thing and can be happy that you did what you could
to stop the harassment.

I understand your concern AND it's not only the point and shoot folks. I will walk up to one that's in a tree but do so quietly as they are used to it where I go (High traffic) area for eagles. What pisses me off is that one time while taking photos of the Baldies eating on a couple of logs sticking out over the water around 100 feet from a couple of respected photographers and myself, up comes 3 guys creeping closer to the birds and we tell them in a calm voice that they are going to scare the birds by getting closer and they looked at us as though we didn't know anything and yup they scared them away and pushed them further from our excellent vantage point so they then realized they couldn't get the shot they wanted and came back our way to setup and that's when they got their butt chewed for ruining around 5 photographers shots.

wagaboo wrote in post #15405550
I understand your concern AND it's not only the point and shoot folks. I will walk up to one that's in a tree but do so quietly as they are used to it where I go (High traffic) area for eagles. What pisses me off is that one time while taking photos of the Baldies eating on a couple of logs sticking out over the water around 100 feet from a couple of respected photographers and myself, up comes 3 guys creeping closer to the birds and we tell them in a calm voice that they are going to scare the birds by getting closer and they looked at us as though we didn't know anything and yup they scared them away and pushed them further from our excellent vantage point so they then realized they couldn't get the shot they wanted and came back our way to setup and that's when they got their butt chewed for ruining around 5 photographers shots.

I feel your pain.
Stories like this remind me of a saying. YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID

Couldn't agree with you more

Turn on Video on your camera and make a documentary of Idiots for Idiots
Put it on YouTube and monetize it.

Fester wrote in post #15406592
Turn on Video on your camera and make a documentary of Idiots for Idiots
Put it on YouTube and monetize it.

Great idea lol

I wouldn't say idiot so much as disrespectful. They obviously do not believe in responsible birding and respecting the thing they photograph (OT, but I sometimes think the same of some particular types of street photographer). And obviously disrespectful to any other photographers/watchers​. Admittedly with my poor birding skills I can annoy the birds for a little while too as I follow, but even I know to stop after a few minutes, certainly with no deliberate scare tactics.

I guess that maybe you may have never encountered these types of "Folks" lol.
An idiot in my book is one or many that tend to scare away the subject of your shot verses the "disrespectful" person who sets right up in front of you right within your frame so to speak and I'm speaking of my birding situation but I had the option of going to a better vantage point to avoid said eeediots

Fair enough. I suppose you'll have to call me an idiot then. I end up scaring most of my subjects away

Dufflover, please don't take it that way, I guess you would have had to be there to understand my point

Fester wrote in post #15406592
Turn on Video on your camera and make a documentary of Idiots for Idiots
Put it on YouTube and monetize it.

I like this idea!

wagaboo wrote in post #15434203
Dufflover, please don't take it that way, I guess you would have had to be there to understand my point

haha I know I know. Happy to say I don't fit the scaring wavy type like the inflatable tube man hehe

dufflover wrote in post #15434200
Fair enough. I suppose you'll have to call me an idiot then. I end up scaring most of my subjects away

Youre not an idiot if you scare the birds YOU are photographing away.
Youre only an idiot if you ruin other peoples shots by scaring them away.



As for the original comment. I think that we can all say these people were not photographers, but more people with cameras. I think there is a difference.

Just as I think there are cyclists and then there are people with bicycles. There is a difference.

If you're in the United States, the next time it happens, you might inform them that it is illegal to harm, trap, kill or harass raptors, according to federal and state laws. Causing a bird to fly away is deemed to be harassment. If you see it happening frequently at this location, you might make a call to the Fish & Wildlife Service. A criminal violation of the Eagle Act can result in a year in prison and a fine of $100,000. That would put their fun day in perspective.