Thank you for bringing up this subject on this website, Eric.
It is, of course, of great importance that everyone (not just photographers, but birdwatchers as well) consider the welfare of birds and acts accordingly. I would be very much in favour of a similar set of guidelines on this website.
I actually think that most serious bird photographers in Hong Kong are aware of the risks of disturbance to birds and act in such a way as to minimise their potential impacts. This is apparent from the discussions/debates that there have been previously about use of flash and supplementary feeding of birds. Similarly, photographers have in the past been instrumental in campaigns to reduce disturbance to breeding tern colonies. I believe that the majority of serious bird photographers would not act irresponsibly, and would not post pictures which were taken inappropriately.
My main concern is that some of the less experienced photographers may not recognise that they are causing disturbance. I am aware of how difficult it can be to judge whether you are causing disturbance, and even after 30 years of experience there are some occasions when I regret my actions as causing more disturbance than I would like. Camera equipment is easy to get hold of in Hong Kong and I think many of the people taking photographs of birds have only recently taken up the activity, and may not know how to read bird behaviour to look for disturbance. Many of the less experienced photographers may not read or post regularly on this forum. I would, therefore, like to see similar guidelines set up for other photographic forums in Hong Kong (perhaps someone who is a member could suggest this on the other forums).
As long-time visitors to this website may be aware, one of my particular concerns is photography close to nests. At this crucial stage in the life cycle, I believe that nesting birds can very easily be disturbed without someone realising the potential impacts of their actions (again, this does not apply only to photography).
I would like to see a complete ban on photographs of nesting birds on this forum (and preferably also other photography forums). This would discourage those less experienced from accidentally causing disturbance while attempting to take photographs. I realise that there are some situations where actions are less likely to disturb nesting birds (e.g. nesting stilts at Mai Po) but I think that the rule is more easily enforcible with a complete ban, rather than specifying species and sites.
