It’s over! The Victorian duck shooting season has ended for another year. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Victoria joins WA, NSW and Qld and we never have to worry again about hundreds of thousands of our native waterbirds being slaughtered for recreation.
Grey Teal (Anas gracilis)
APS Gold Medal – Maitland International Salon of Photography – 2016
1/640, f/6.3, ISO 800
During last year’s duck shooting season I spent many weekends at lakes and wetlands. Usually I like being at such places before sunrise, I like seeing the sky gradually lighten and hearing the sweet calls of birds and the gentle quacking of ducks as they greet the morning. But it’s different during the shooting season. Sweet sounds are replaced by the thud of gunfire and the gleeful cheers of men who think it’s somehow brave or manly to dress in camouflage, secrete themselves in hides and lure ducks with decoys and fake calls. And, as the terrified birds take flight in the semi-darkness they are blasted with hundreds of pellets – it’s sick.
The flip-side to the carnage are the duck rescuers. What a privilege it is to know people with such compassion and determination. People who, for three months of the year, juggle full-time work and study to spend their weekends searching for injured birds. People who exhaust themselves trying to ensure that no birds are hidden in hollow logs or nestled among reeds; people who fill bags with the filth discarded by shooters and who spend more than they can afford on equipment, petrol and accommodation – awesome, inspiring people, my youngest daughter included.
After photographing so many dead and injured birds last year I was desperate to find safe birds to photograph. Following the season I visited local wetlands and felt as though the birds understood my need to be with them. I was lucky to capture the image of the Grey Teal above, I love its pose, the eye-contact and the tiny beads of water dripping from its underparts. I’m particularly fond of Grey Teal, they are such tiny, gentle ducks. Not everyone likes this image, which, coupled with how important it is to me, made me enter it in the end of year competition at Knox Photographic Society and the Maitland International Salon of Photography – I was rapt when the teal was honoured (thank you everyone) and hope that the image can somehow help put an end to duck shooting, maybe by demonstrating that our native waterbirds are both beautiful and valued.
Happy birding
Kim
PS An excellent broadcast went to air on 14 June, it’s well-worth a listen: More than game – Victorian duck shooting season
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