Most birders tend to shy away from that aspect of bird study involving photography. Taking fine photographs of wild birds in their natural habitats requires skill, patience, and technical equipment of high caliber and most amateur ornithologists are not prepared to invest the necessary time and money in that phase of the hobby. Those who attempt it are frequently discouraged by the difficulty of the task and abandon their efforts after they realize the frustrations involved. Happily, however, more and more birders are carrying 35 millimeter cameras and short telephoto lenses with them in the field and when rare birds are sighted, identifiable (albeit not portrait) photos can be obtained without the necessity of shooting the bird in question.