This spring break I had a whirlwind road trip through Florida, from beautiful Northern Florida (read the travel guide here!) all the way down to the Everglades. Florida completely blew me away as an underrated adventure and wildlife hotspot – boasting enjoying clear springs, ample wildlife viewing, lush landscapes, and plenty of colorful birds to photograph. As a travel & outdoors photographer I usually stick to landscapes, so it was a fun new challenge to capture a different subject than usual.

Bird photography can definitely be steep learning curve, but it is definitely worth putting in the effort. While there are plenty of amazing guides out there to improve your bird photography, this is intended for the traveler just getting started in wildlife photography, or someone who just wants to be able to capture birds or wildlife a little better on their travels. As a casual bird watcher with a bird Biologist partner, I knew the Everglades were one such opportunity I couldn’t miss the chance to work on my wildlife photography skills. Next time you find yourself in Florida or elsewhere around the world on your travels, here are 10 bird photography tips:

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Birds are very fast moving animals, and get a sharp capture, you’ll generally need a shutter speed around 1/1000 seconds, or even faster to capture them in flight. For a heron or a slow-moving bird, you could get away with a slower shutter speed, but I wouldn’t go any slower than 1/200 seconds.

In travel and landscape photography, you’re always looking to have your ISO as low as possible; 100 is best to keep photographs from being too grainy. But in bird photography, you’ll need a high ISO (400+ all the way up to 1600 or even 2000) to make up for your fast shutter speed, or else your images will be too dark. Similarly, select a small aperture number (such as f/2.8 or f/4.0) which will let in the most amount of light at the tradeoff of a shallower depth of field.

In manual mode, you obviously have full control over all of your settings, so you can dial in your correct shutter speed, ISO, and aperture, but sometimes the birds are moving too quickly for you to change all of those at once. I recommend shutter-priority mode, where you select your shutter speed and the camera picks the aperture for you for the correct exposure.

Cameras have different image modes, one of which is continuous shooting, which will let you take a burst of shots as you hold down the shutter button. This way, if your first or last shot isn’t sharp, one of the middle shots likely will be, and you will also have more images to choose from later on.

Birds are always smaller and further away than you think, so for larger birds like herons or wood storks, you could get away with a 70-200mm or 100-300mm lens, but for many song birds your best bet is a 200-500 or 200-600mm lens. However, these larger lens are rather specialty and costly, so just go with the best zoom you have with you. 

The longer your zoom lens, the more difficult it can be to get a sharp shot, so using stabilization such as a monopod or a tripod is key. Tripods are best for far away, slow-moving birds, whereas a monopod is great for being able to capture birds moving more quickly while keeping some stabilization. One of my favorite ways to capture birds is via an auto tour, and while it’s great to rest your lens on the car window, the vibrations of the car can be detrimental to an image. Throw a beanbag under your lens to both cushion it and reduce the vibrations. 

Eyes are what we look at to connect with another creature, so even if nothing else is sharp, make sure the eye is in focus to have a compelling image. Play around with manual versus autofocus, but my favorite way is to have a single-point focus on autofocus I can move to where the bird’s eye is. Keep in mind your angles too, being right at eye-level with a bird is best.

Birds are the most active at dawn and dusk, with songbirds singing their morning chorus just before dawn until roughly a half hour after dawn, so take photographs in the early morning to see the most birds out. Midday is often too hot for birds to be out, but you can still see plenty of shorebirds and wading birds in the middle of the day because the water will keep them cool. Birds of prey will also be circling throughout most of the day, and owls and other nocturnal birds are the most active around dusk.

Humans often move at a speed that can be alarming to birds and wildlife, so keep your movements slow and measured when you are approaching birds. Speak softly to anyone around you, and be as quiet as possible. It’s okay to move closer to take an image of a bird, but always maintain a safe distance of about 100 feet (or more for larger birds or bird of prey) so as not to stress the birds out. If the bird becomes agitated, fidgets, starts to call, or looks directly at you for longer than a few seconds, you are likely too close.

To get closer to birds without disturbing them, you can post up in a blind or shoot from your car. A blind is a structure with holes or windows for you to stick your camera out of or look through while hiding the rest of you from sight. Many wildlife refuges build them near bodies of water or birding hotspots with benches in them so you can be more comfortable, and sometimes hang feeders nearby to help attract more birds.

If I had one tip above all other bird photography tips, it’s patience! Birds are unpredictable and sometimes you just have to wait it out for the bird you want to see appear or shift into a better position or light. So relax, grab some binoculars to watch other birds in the meantime, and enjoy being outdoors and hearing beautiful birdsong.

If you want to take your bird photography to the next level, I recommend you start learning more about specific bird species behavior and environments. If you know where the birds will be, what they do, what time they forage, what time of year they are around, when they are nesting, and more, you will be able to plan a specific bird shot and be much more successful than just seeing what appears. Take a bird watching or bird biology course, join a local bird watching or photography group, learn from others, and watch and read tutorials online.

• The Everglades: one of the most unique wetland environments in the world, home to hundreds of birds, alligators, and crocodiles. The Everglades are best experienced from the water, so try out this airboat tour or for a more unique and eco-friendly option, do this mangrove kayak tour.
• Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge: my top favorite spot to bird, featuring a scenic drive and visitor center to bird from. Make it a full day trip by adding on this paddleboarding tour to experience Merritt Island from the water.
• Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive: only open during certain days of the week, but well worth doing the full drive
• Ocala National Forest: great for hikes or birding, or just getting away from the usual Florida crowds
• Florida Keys & Dry Tortugas: host to migratory birds and nesting seabirds, best explored via boat – and bonus, you can use all those birding photography skills you just learned to photograph other wildlife, such as dolphins! Jump on this eco tour to see dolphins in their natural habitat.
• Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary: managed by the National Audubon Society and famous for its nesting colony of wood storks
• Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge: similar wildlife to Everglades National Park
• Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge: covered in mangrove swamps and offers another great, if shorter, birding drive

Hopefully this guide helps you explore a new field of photography and allows you to capture absolutely everything on your next adventure! Let me know in the comments if you want to see more bird or wildlife photography guides from me!

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