I have never heard of this before, a world of where it is alright to use a bird picture that does not belong to you, without the photographers permission. I had a picture of a bird that I asked for id help and one person took that picture and posted it on their blog, without out getting my permission or telling me they had used it. In a photographer's world that is not only illegal, but completely unethical.

Here is what he said to justify what he had done.

"I gave you full credit - thought that would be ok with you in the end, as it usually is in the co-world of birders to birders and birder's photos used by other birders"

The full credit only included my name, nothing more; no link back to me, and in fact, he changed the name of the picture so there was no metadata that would point back to me. I was a photographer long before I became a birder, shooting commercially for many years. But this puts the whole birder/photographer issue into a new light and a new low for birders.

Is that true of how birders think? Is there a "co-world" for birders that puts them above ethical guidelines?


Please, let me know.

Don Wallace
Sequim, WA