The Weekly Prompts: Boundaries challenge got me thinking about the variable boundaries wild birds and animals put between themselves and humans.
The reason I say variable is because most species will keep their distance from humans. The more erratic and noisy the behaviour of the human the wider the boundary between them.
On the other hand, some understanding of animal behaviour and some fieldcraft will allow you to get within a few feet of many species. I have had wild birds and mammals approach me so closely that I couldn’t focus the lens I was using on them.
Portrait of a female Wilson’s Phalarope taken at Middle Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. A flock of six Wilson’s Phalaropes landed close to me when I was photographing some American White Pelicans. I laid down in the sand and wildfowl poop at the edge of the lake and proceeded to spend some time with them. When I was lying down the birds started ignoring me. This female was so close I couldn’t get all her body in the frame. Some of the birds wandered so close I couldn’t focus on them.
This European Rabbit was photographed in Shropshire, England. I was surprised how relaxed some Rabbits were at this location. I know there was a Red Fox hunting them. I did wonder if they were so relaxed because they knew that the Fox wouldn’t be around if there was a human in the area.
A juvenile Red Knot resting on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton during its autumn migration. I had gone down to the shoreline for the sunrise and discovered two Red Knot. I spent long enough with them that they started ignoring me allowing me to photograph them feeding, bathing, preening and resting.
This Eastern Chipmunk was photographed in our yard in Ontario, Canada. The various birds and mammals got so used to me lying in the grass that summer that they started ignoring me. I had Chipmunks running across my legs while squirrels and birds landed in the Cedar branches a few feet away checking out the human in the grass.
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