It sure is a cakewalk to get a good shot of the birds if you happen to get them near the nests. You can tell your good friends of it so they can go get some good shots for themselves. Eventually, it gets messy. Reportedly the birds feel threatened. They leave the nest abruptly thereby resulting in the death of young ones. So, in principle, you don’t do it. The forums cry foul when you do them – some – very loud. But every photographer has nest photos. Some birds like Baya Weaver, it is next to impossible to get shots without a nest. And most birds are at a certain location mostly when they breed.
I wouldn’t want to disturb these beautiful fairies. I would advocate, no one should. But it is nothing short of madness to cry foul as if the hell is broken loose.
Birds are smart. They scout thoroughly and put up their nests. I’ve been observing them for a few years now. At home, we have put up some nests for Magpie Robins and House Sparrows. We have seen many birds nesting in the trees, fences and even unused corners of our house. We’ve had Purple Rumped Sunbirds, Indian Robins, White-naped Tits, Brahminy Starlings, Ashy Prinias, Common Tailorbirds etc nest right here. The point I’m trying to make is, they are not threatened as long as you haven’t threatened them.
Here’s a nest of Red Vented Bulbul right at the end of cloth-drying line. It pulled off the material from the bamboo chairs that were lying on the terrace. It also has supply of fresh bugs from the wasps right across! 😀
This brings me to the recent series I posted on a new bird to our household – White browed Fantail – which had nested right across one of the windows. It even chased away our maid who was cleaning that area below the tree not knowing that the nest was in the making. These were taken from inside the house. The bird did not even have a chance to see if someone was taking a photo.
Go ahead and enjoy these. All of them flew off the next day!
rambling... 