For the reason I only have my 4s with me, taking picture of bird by zooming is never a good option and I won’t do that. That’s why I always talk with them in a bird language :P. It goes something like this *hey, please stay there, I wanna take pictures of you, don’t fly away* then I walked up and do the shots. Glad they he/she did stay. π
May be people here are so kind that birds get used to them already I think.
So my advice of the day: don’t scare the birds or anyone you love because you will lose something great.