As far as I know, Eliot Porter was the first (?) and perhaps only photographer who used 4x5 color film to photograph birds at the nest (though he moved to Hasselblad and 35mm later for this effort). Hoskin and other early Hasselblad nature photographers found MF more amenable to this task, though most shot B+W.

In early 2000 I reached out to Nikon to discuss use of T Lenses to photograph birds at the nest using a blind in upper Canada (Ellesmere Island). I was told that Plasmats (W series) would be better suited for closeup work and determined that the 360mm W as well as the 450mm F9M were insufficient focal length for this effort in natural light). There is also the issue of working apertures which means F11 - F22 with some front tilt.

I never contacted Schneider regarding their 800mm tele to see if this might be usable.

Given the imprecise variables I abandoned the effort.

Were there other photographers who tried this? Any notable results?

Other lens options (Rodenstock?)?