Not that we don't know composition, it is just that birds and other critters don't take direction very well. In spite of stalking and slinking around you often have to shoot on a "what you see is what you get basis" and it may be moving off at a high rate of speed.

If you don't frame real tight you can often crop to make the composition look better, but that causes an IQ loss.

If you have spent what feels like a couple of eons trying to get pictures of a "left winged widget bird" and you get a chance you are not likely to say "Nope, no good, branches in the way, background is too busy, the light is from the wrong direction and the bird will look like it is leaving the frame, I won't shoot!" You will take the shot, often on burst and track that bird until it ducks into dense jungle or what ever.

And for the birders among us, the south end of a north bound bird is still a "record" shot so you can add it to your lifetime list.

Now if I run into Bigfoot, he/she understands English, is not hostile and will take direction if paid in Snickers, energy bars and gatorade, well then we will try for some "proper" composition.

Mastery of fine photographic composition requires artistic talent that is usually inborn to a certain degree but also requires study, observation,and practice. A photographer who has a command over his or her compositional savvy can apply this talent and skill even under difficult or fleeting shooting conditions- it kinda comes naturally after a while. Sure, there are next to impossible situations where "capturing" an image of a wild animal or bird, a split-sports event, a fleeting expression at a wedding or a "spot-news" event where artistry becomes secondary to just documenting the subject matter and telling the story. In many instances, however,I have seen photographs with a great degree compositional value that were made under very difficult scenarios such a documentary work done in war zones under combat circumstances. Oftentimes, its just little nuances of how the frame was filled- perhaps just a slight difference or shift in point of view that makes all the difference.

For the most part, I believe artistic talent is a natural inborn thing but there are also many geometric, mathematical and rule-like principles that go into the study of composition. Perhaps it can be a learned skill or the principles can be used to develop or hone one's talents. There is the rule of thirds, the Euclid Elements, The Golden Ratio, The Fibonacci Sequence, and the theory of Dynamic Symmetry and much more. This stuff is difficult to teach and I suppose one can draw up some diagrams but in my own case, I usually work backward from what I SEE as good composition and sometimes find that what I have done kinda fits into some of these theories.

Besides the placement of subjects in an artist or impactful manner, the areas of tonality, color, contrast, texture, line and form also have to do with the total composition of an image. In many cases, the composition is what tells the story and can even ALTER the story- it all has to do with emphasis and point of view!

To say or make a blanket statement that ALL photographers of any ilk or specialty "have no sense of composition" seems rather unfair- I would think that should be judged on a case to cases basis. Not every good photographer will have the same approach to composition and some shooters just want to have a picture of a woodpecker, a moose, a mountain or a tree, or grandma at a wedding reception- well- just for the record and have no artistic intentions. Takes all kinds! We are all entitled to our opinions!