| Joined: | Wed Oct 14th, 2020 |
| Location: | Australia |
| Posts: | 76 |
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I agree with your approach.
In fact, from a pure bird 'observation' point of view, I've always said 20mins in a hide and you know what's about. If nothing shows, move on. Of course if your aim is photographing the birds, you may have to stay longer, if only to get more / better opportunities.
I agree, it usually doesn't take too long to know if you're likely to see many birds or not. Knowing where popular spots are for birds does help as well. This is where social media has helped, but also has been detrimental. When a locally rare bird has been spotted in a reserve, it can cause a big influx of birders which ultimately causes distress for the birds. Particularly when they are Owls, and photographer's harass them while they sleep so they open their eyes.