Just ask any sports team if there is a decided advantage in playing on the home field. The answer will be a resounding, "Yes!" Home town crowds cheering and intimate knowledge of the playing field gives the home team a decided advantage over their adversaries. Just as sports teams have "home fields" so do bird and nature photographers. OK, so there aren't any crowds to cheer you on as you make your photographs but having a "home field" gives you a decided edge in your photography. To be a good bird photographer requires practice, practice, practice! You cannot get this practice if your outings are limited to the occasional weekend trip, out of town, to some unfamiliar locale. UH-uh. You need a "home field" that is easily accessible any time. Sure, we all want to take trips to new places but we can't limit our photography to just those trips and expect to be able to produce consistent images on every trip.

• A "home field" that you visit often allows you the opportunity to use your equipment more frequently so that the "process" of photography becomes intuitive. When you do get that opportunity to make the out of town trip to photograph birds you won't be stumbling over how to change shutter speeds, change f stops, or make exposure compensations. These actions will become second nature given enough practice on the "home field".
• Photographing birds frequently allows you the opportunity to make changes to your equipment and fine tune your equipment list to assemble the best bird photography kit for your interests and skill level. It wouldn't do to choose a new tripod and set it up for the first time on an out of town trip only to find the new tripod is too clumsy to work with. Discover the foibles and strengths of your equipment on your "home field".
• A "home field" breeds familiarity with the resident birds. The more you discover about the intimate life of your subjects the more effective your photographs will become.
• There's less pressure to make photographs at the "home field". Some days you will make a handful of images at your "home field", some days you may make a hundred images. I always feel more pressured to make good images when I make an out of town photography trip. After all, there's greater expenses associated with and less opportunities to make out of town trips so I better make the expense worthwhile. Right?
• Finally, you have a greater opportunity to meet other like-minded photographers. If you have discovered a great bird photography location close to home chances are others have chosen the same "home field". Meeting other like-minded photographers can lead to many enjoyable days in the field and, also, shared experiences and knowledge. "Networking" with other bird photographers can become an extremely valuable asset. Many friends I have met at my "home field" and I send emails back and forth after we visit a location. We let each other know the species we found, where, and the approaches that have worked best for us to photograaph that species. We even share our images through emails. We have become our own "cheering crowd".

Here are a few criteria that constitute a good "home field".

• The "home field" must be close to home, of course. Municipal parks make good "home fields". Just be sure that you feel safe carrying your equipment at the park of your choice. It would not do to have you mugged and your equipment stolen. Many industrial parks include water features in their landscaping. I have found that if you reasonably approach the management of these parks you may, often times, secure permission to photograph in the industrial park. This can be a godsend during waterfowl migration. Botanical gardens, zoos, and wildlife parks are other good choices to sharpen your skills. Many of these facilities offer year long memberships making repeat visits less expensive in the long run.
• Your "home field" should offer a variety of birds to photograph. Nothing bores a bird photographer more quickly than photographing the same species, sometimes the same individual bird, over and over. You can only tolerate just so many images of the same french-fry-stealing English Sparrow! Botanical gardens offer especially good opportunities to photograph a variety of species. The various species of plants in a botanical garden attract different species of birds. Zoos, too, can attract a large variety of birds.
• You must feel comfortable going there. Your "home field" has to attract your interest enough that you will take the time to go there over and over again. It must be a location with which you never get bored. You can have more than one "home field". My "home fields" include an artificial wetland, a zoo, and a botanical garden. I switch "home fields" frequently to avoid boredom and each of these "home fields" offer different species of birds to photograph at different times of the year.
• Your "home field" must be available to you any time you wish to photograph birds. It wouldn't do to, say, choose a "home field" on private property that requires advance notice before you can trespass. Your "home field" must be available at a moment's notice and be available during times you can photograph birds. For example, there is a small artificial wetlands created from processed waste water near my home that draws scores of bird species during different times of the year. This would be a good "home field" except weekend hours are limited to 6:00 am to 11:00 am. These hours are fine if I can visit it in the mornings but I don's always have weekend mornings available. Week day hours are 6:00 am to 5:00 pm. This is better but I don't have days off during the week. This artificial wetlands would obviously not be a good choice for a "home field".

If you have perused my image galleries you have undoubtedly determined that my primary "home field" is the Gilbert Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona, USA. I can spend hours and hours there and never tire of being there. I have met many wonderful bird photographers at the Water Ranch who have helped me improve my bird photography and my general knowledge of birds and bird behavior. Having made thousands of images at the Water Ranch has helped me become proficient with my equipment so that operating my camera is now second nature. Finally, my time at the Water Ranch is absolutely stress-free. What more could you ask for?

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Tom Webster gave up the 9 to 5 work-a-day world to become a professional nature and avian photographer. You can view more of Tom's images at Tom Webster Photography.