Birds are in a daily fight for survival.  Any injury or stress-induced illness will almost certainly result in death.  Predators are everywhere; breeding is competitive and finding food imperative.

Further, our climate is changing and habitat is being cleared at a relentless rate.  In concert, the number of bird photographers has increased phenomenally in the last two decades.  The actions of photographers cannot be viewed in isolation.  The more photographers there are, the greater the potential for impacting the daily existence of our birds.  The effects of an ever increasing human population as well as an increasing photographic community must be regarded as cumulative.

In compiling these ethical guidelines, the BirdLife Photography Committee believes it is important to apply the internationally recognised "Precautionary Principle", which has been incorporated into Australian environmental law under s391 of the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and is defined as follows:

"The precautionary principle is that lack of full scientific certainty [eg in relation to the impact of call playback on bird species] should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent degradation of the natural and cultural heritage of a reserve or zone where there is a threat of serious or irreversible damage."

The current version of our Code of Ethics (updated March 2026) is available here.

All BLP members should familiarise themselves with this Code of Ethics.