Photographing Garden Birds
By Aidan Finn
www.highwaycsl.com
Introduction
One of the things people often know about me is that I’m a fan of bird feeder photography. It’s something I’ve been doing for a year and a half and I’ve learned a few tricks along the way. I’m going to try to document these and share a few tips in this tutorial.
Wildlife photography, which this most certainly is, is much more than just knowing your camera, composition and processing. Knowing your subjects and field craft is critical to create and environment that will attract your subjects and get you close enough to your subjects so that you can get that in focus, clear and interesting shot.
Yellowhamer
Why Bird Feeders?
Let’s put photography aside for a moment. Animals and birds have lived not only in the country side but in our towns for as long as we’ve been around. As our towns and cities have grown, they’ve also changed a lot. One of the consequences is that natural food sources for our neighbours in the trees and the skies have reduced in availability. By placing out bird feeders we can supplement their diets and make surviving those tough times a little easier. So what’s in it for you? Well, how would you like a back garden full of bird song? I enjoy waking up at dawn and hearing the chorus of birds chirping away along with a sunrise. Throw in the smell of a nice cup of coffee and some wholemeal toast … J
People often associate bird feeders with winter or snow. If you start putting out a bird feeder then you really need to keep it stocked all year round. Birds do start to depend on you and they will become repeat customers. You’ll notice that your visitors change with the seasons. You’ll get some birds all year around such as Greenfinches. You might get Long Tailed Tits in December when they’ve plucked the berries from the trees. Yellowhammers might visit you in early spring when there are no grain crops or seed to raid. And in summer, you might get a Kestrel or a Sparrowhawk visiting your garden looking for a more meaty kind of meal … something like a Greenfinch.
What Sort of Feeders and Food?
The truth is there is an endless combination of these. You can pay a fortune for feeders and foods. Visit a specialist website and you’ll soon see what I mean.
The first piece of advice I’ll give you is to observe and research. You need to know what is in your area before you do anything. Then find out how these birds feed and what they like to eat. You’ll find that Finches are partial to peanuts. Coal Tits love small seed as do Yellowhammers. Goldfinches seem to think that the seed from a Thistle is like heroin. Robins prefer worms. Oh yeah ... you can buy mealworm for your birds! The foods that the birds will eat will also change during the year. Your peanuts and seed may be disappearing right into April and then suddenly the birds aren’t too interested any more. You’ll find that during nesting season, usually May, the birds will prefer to catch insects or pick up worms. You can adapt to that and supply those foods instead.
Greenfinch
There are a few approaches that I’ve successfully used.
The simplest and the cheapest is to scatter the food on the ground. Lots of birds will eat from the ground. But not all birds are going to do this. Research and observation is important. You may also notice that you’ll start getting things like rats and mice visiting this area. You may also need to keep an eye on cats that will quickly learn that birds are feeding on the ground regularly in this area.
The peanut feeder is available from almost every garden and hardware store around. It’s often quite cheap. Normally, a simple one is perfect. But you may find that larger birds or squirrels are controlling the feeder. You can buy more expensive models that feature an outer cage to keep those pests out if you so choose.
The seed feeder is another choice. I’ve used two types: one with a dish to catch spilled food and ones without. The dish will slow down food falling to the ground and help reduce pests. But it will also get quite dirty. I prefer the food to spill because it supplies those birds that feed the ground. I’ve also noticed that Coal Tit’s often throw out the seeds they don’t like!
Then there is the bird table. The great thing with these is that they are easy to erect and they are easy to get. But it’s very easy to get the choice of table wrong. Make sure that the bottom has a mesh. This enables scrap to fall from the table and keeps it cleaner. You’ll want a wooden one to make perching more natural for the birds. There are some with bird houses built into them. These are an atrocious concept. No birds will stick around in there if others are visiting outside to feed. Also note that an open topped table will bring all sorts in including Starlings and the Crow family. They can bully smaller birds from your table. I’ve found that a good table can bring in birds that you might not otherwise get and you can place them closer to your house than you might expect … just make sure you’re not constantly staring at it and scaring the birds away.
You don’t have to limit yourself to these purchase efforts. You can get inventive. I’ve used a stick that I’ve driven into the ground, pasted peanut butter onto it and stuck peanuts onto the butter. It doesn’t last long! Another approach is to get a large log and lay it in a position where you want birds to land. You can then drill some small holes into the log and place food in those holes. Obviously you will drill the holes in a location where they will be out of shot. Your imagination is your limitation – I’ve actually even considered using mice that my cat has caught as some bait.
Where to Place Your Feeders
This is the most important decision photography wise. The first thing to consider is do you prefer to shoot in the morning or the evening? The same rules apply here as with landscaping. The best light is at either end of the day. Forget about shooting at midday because the contrast in light is too much. Place your feeders so that the sun will be back over your shoulder when you are looking at the feeders. In my case, I prefer the warm light of the evening so I have my feeders in the east part of the garden.
Chaffinch
The next thing to consider is your background. You will want it to be attractive. Don’t place the feeders in front of a fence, your house or a wall. The background should be attractive, e.g. a tree, a hedgerow or maybe the sky.
Now you need to consider what you are after. Some birds prefer to feed on the ground such as Blackbirds, Chaffinches and Yellowhammers. They’re often quite jumpy and don’t like to venture too far from the undergrowth. You should consider scattering some food for them on the ground, just a meter or two from the hedges. Some will prefer to eat up from the ground in a safer, elevated position. This is the case with Blue Tits, Greenfinches and Coal Tits. You should hang your feeders from a tree. But don’t worry if you don’t have a tree. You can buy attractive wrought iron hangers that you can spike into your lawn. You can hang your feeders from those.
There are some birds that are extremely shy such as the Dunnock. This perfectly camouflaged little thing hides in the depths of hedgerows and you’ll barely notice it even if you’re looking for it. Your best bet is to scatter food in the hedgerow itself and hope you can get a shot when it comes out to have a look about, often perched on one leg! From what I’ve seen, they are creatures of habit so if you see one, it’s probably going to come back.
Once you’ve placed your feeders you may need to wait a while. What’s a while? If your food is clearly visible then you might have visitors in a matter of minutes. If your food is sheltered then you might need to wait a bit longer. In fact, your feeders might not be busy for weeks. But you actually will notice a big increase in the winter following your first nesting season. Fledglings will follow their parents to the feeders where they will be fed. They’ll know to return to this location when food is scarce.
Whatever feeders you use, please remember to keep them clean. Not doing this will create a source of disease for your visitors. And throw them out if or when they start to rust or become damaged.
Other Attractions
You can do lots of things to attract birds that maybe won’t consider your feeders, such as Starlings, Pied Wagtails, Blackbirds, Thrushes, etc.
A small pond is a great attraction. Birds like to stay clean. Having a pond gives them somewhere to land and bath. Like a swimming pool, there should be a shallow end but with a stone base. This is better than a bird bath because it creates a natural environment for the photo. It also attracts other life such as insects (natural bird food) and frogs (more photo subjects!). Keep the pool well maintained.
You can plant flowers or trees to attract birds. Garden centres feature “wild” flower seeds such as sun flowers or poppies that supply seed for natural food. Some flowers attract insects that will feed the insectivores.
Trees, shrubs and thick hedges are a great thing too. You can be selective about what you plant. Trees can be great places for birds to nest. Trees and shrubs can supply essential berries into the winter. And thick hedges can be great for ground feeders to lurk under or for birds to nest in.
And sometimes the simple things help. Just mowing my lawn seems to bring in the Starlings and the Pied Wagtails. I swear they watch me mow the lawn from the neighbour’s roof.
Getting Close to your Subjects
OK, at this point we’ve got birds coming into the garden. Now you walk out with your camera and expect to get shots that the BBC would be proud of. But what happens? There’s a storm of feathers flapping and your garden is vacated. You’ve successfully done a lot of what is necessary in wildlife photography. But our hobby has much more in common with hunting than you may have thought. We need to camouflage ourselves so that we can get in close for those detailed shots. The fact is you will need to be within a few meters of the typical garden bird with a 400mm lens.
Coal Tit
The simplest solution is to shoot from your house. Shooting through the glass in a window is pointless. House glass is not “perfect” like that in your lens. And the amount of distortion in double glazing is just nuts. You’ll need to open a window and project out the end of your lens. You’ll also need to hide your presence, possibly with a curtain or a blind.
An interesting way is to use a remote shutter release. Some people have successfully placed a camera on a tripod quite close to where they expect a bird to land. The camera will be set up on manual focus, metered and composed. The photographer then waits for a bird to land in shot and fire the remote shutter release. This allows you to use shorter lenses and get amazing detail. But you do risk bird droppings getting on your gear. It will also demand unbelievable patience and maybe a good dose of luck. It’s not something I’ve tried.
A more usual approach is for the photographer to get closer to the birds. Some birds will actually grow more accustomed to your presence as long as you are still. I have successfully sat behind a tripod with no camouflage and gotten some nice shots. But this only seems to work with the smaller species, strangely enough. At the very least I’d recommend you get some army surplus gear or a scrim net, either of which is actually quite cheap if you shop around. You can buy specialist hunting gear such as a ghillie suit but that might get the neighbours wondering if you’ve become a serial killer. The downside of this approach is that you have to stay very still. Any movement by you or your camera will scare everything away and you can be waiting for 10-20 minutes before the birds start to come back.
The best solution is to use a hide (our American friends often call it a blind). A hide is basically a specialist tent, usually with a camouflage patterned canvas, with portholes that you can stick your lens through. A mesh will cover the windows to hide your presence. This allows you and your camera to quietly move about inside the hide and not scare your subjects. A good quality hide will cost a bit but you’ll find that it only takes a few minutes to erect and take down. It’s also something that wildlife shooters will find invaluable when they go out and about on shoots.
Another fine piece of kit worth mentioning here is a seat. A camping seat will be vital if you spend hours out watching your feeders through your viewfinder. You could get a cheap little three legged thing like I use. It’s handy because it is very portable, something I value when I hike longer distances on a shoot. But you may prefer a heavier seat that has a back. That will allow you to sit back and relax. Another thing I find handy here is a mobile phone (on vibrate only) with a good game on it J
Now, where do you position yourself? Simple. Get as close as you can without being a worry to your subjects. Place the sun behind your shoulder, hopefully without your or your hide causing a shadow over your subjects. And make sure the background is still attractive. I’m lucky here. At sunset, the sun comes over my shoulder, clear of the house and right into the feeders. I’ll place the hide either side of the feeders depending on the time of year (the sun set location changes during the year).
The Camera Gear
OK gadget freaks. You can stop skipping paragraphs here. You will need a tripod. I prefer using one with a video style handle. The handle really should be on the opposite side from the shutter release button. This allows me to move the camera with my left hand while controlling shutter, focus and metering with my right. When I’m in the garden, I might use my heavier aluminium tripod, which was actually quite reasonably priced and has such a head built into it.
I use a digital SLR camera. This allows me to use long lenses. You might be able to use a super point and shoot such as a Fujifilm S5XXX series or similar. Unfortunately, that more affordable option can not come very close to an SLR for performance in this field. Fast auto focus and more ISO options and quality are critical. But don’t be discouraged. I have seen point and shoots doing some quality stuff in wildlife shooting.
As for digital SLR, up to now I’ve been using an entry level Canon model. It has definitely not held me back in bird feeder photography.
The lens I use is a 100-400 model. I could probably get away with using something like a more economic 70-300 lens.
Setting up the Shot
Sorry … we’re back to the field craft again to start this section off. I hate bird photos that feature a bird feeder. I prefer the shots to be more natural looking. I always try to shoot the subjects as the approach the feeders in the trees, when they are browsing on the ground or when they are perched in a hedgerow. You can do some clever things if these aren’t an option for you.
Remember earlier I mentioned that you could buy a wrought iron hanger for your feeders if you didn’t have any trees? Well, you cold prune a branch and clamp it onto the top of that hanger. I say the top because I’ve noticed that garden birds prefer to approach food from above it. Perches that are placed lower than the food always seem to be ignored. Place it so there is an attractive background. Birds will land on it and you will get your shot. Make sure your prop is not too large for your bird. Smaller birds do prefer a thinner perch.
Another thing I have done for the ground browsers is to stick twigs into the ground. I try to find some that have a bend in them and stick them in so that the top part of the twig is almost horizontal, making for a more attractive perch. Place this perch between the hedges that the birds approach from and the food.
Now you have your approach points. Let’s set up the shot. You’ll quickly notice that garden birds are quick. Very quick. Trying to track them will prove almost impossible. Here’s what I do:
- Pick out a perch where the birds I’m after often land. That will take some observation and some lost opportunities.
- Set up my desired aperture and adjust ISO and shutter speed as required. I shoot full manual.
- Meter from a subject that is identical or similar.
- Focus the camera on my perch.
- Compose the shot.
Now I wait for a bird to land on the perch. If I’m finding they don’t stay long then I just fire off some shots. I won’t have perfect focus but a reasonable depth of field will sort things out. Composition will rely on some luck, some trial and error and experience. But if they do stick around I can very quickly:
- Focus on the eye. Just like with human portraits, wildlife shots should normally feature an eye that’s the focal point.
- Recompose. And that brings me to …
Composition
My “rules” are pretty simple:
- Try to use the rule of thirds.
- Portrait for vertical subjects and landscape for horizontal.
- The subject should be entering the frame, i.e. more space in front of it than behind.
- Don't clip the subject at the edge of the frame.
- Try not to "chop" the subject with a branch or twig.
- And have I mentioned a natural and attractive background yet?
The Mantra
Take only photographs; leave only footprints. That’s the mantra you should live by. Don’t do anything that will put your subjects in harms way.
Wrapping Up
Even if you’re not taking photos of the birds, you’ll like the sounds and the life that setting up this environment will bring to your garden. If you do try this out, I hope you have as many enjoyable hours as I have had. Best of luck!
Aidan Finn.
http://www.highwaycsl.com
Blue Tit
