Heck yeah, Flammy Friday 💪 I'm interested to learn that our little buddy was so chill about his home being invaded for research and photography.
Tl;dr for those who didn't read the article - the chainsawed out parts of the tree could be placed back over the nest like a lid when visiting time was done, and filming/botherance was kept to 20 mins max each night.
Honestly quite respectful for someone who reads as being so burned out as this guy. He seems quite cynical (even calling out his wife's choice of inferior camera lens for a picture she seemed excited about? My dude.)
The debate on wild pics vs. staged pics (personally I wouldn't use the term "fake" because it's not like they're using animatronic birds) reminds me a lot of the debate about using "false color" photos in astronomy.
Almost none of the astronomical structures you see published from the fancy telescopes would look anything like that if you were in a spaceship up close. Because decisions have to be made about things like how to present wavelengths of light that can't be seen by humans, but are present in the telescope data. So there a certain amount of actual artistry that goes into producing the final published photos.
I'm happy for the artifice as long as it's done with careful consideration specifically to achieve science communication and education. I think staging photos and videos of animals that would be intrusive or impossible to capture in the wild falls within the same realm of art performed in service of education and I'm ok with it.