Where do you take your bird photos?

JAC40

JAC40

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Everyone who posts bird photos on here seems to take brilliant photos of lots of colourful birds, but how do you do it?! I only seem to be able to attract wood pigeons, and sparrows. But even when I get robins and great tits they are too far away and too quick to capture! Do you have bird hides in your garden? Can you offer me any advice, please?
 
Here there and everywhere depending on species but all my 'garden bird' photographs are taken in my own garden.

I don't use a hide but I've built up a variety of feeders in different positions which take into account cover, direction of light depending on time of day or time of year, perches, food types etc etc. For rubbish weather or just extra shots I also have a set up which allows me to shoot from the kitchen window.

It takes time and observation to get a feeding station established and then longer to get one where the birds accept you. In terms of the distance I find 12 feet to be about right for shooting with a 400mm lens.
 
Going to upset a lot now..........lol
From what I see on here a lot are at feeding sites or from fixed hides.......I have put one on today from a fixed hide.
The new initiative from the people who run this site is to give info about the how why and where we took the shots...but so many are uploaded it would be repetitive and boring to keep putting it on.
There are other ways to get pics......but for some of the birds you need to go to well known places that these birds frequent.....a lot of places you can park up and use the car as a hide.
Walking around is a bit more of a challenge but will give more natural pics ...no plain b/g's most of the time.

Just some quick thoughts.
Keith
 
Jac, you said the robins and great tits are too far away. Is one of the problems the reach of your longest lens?

If so, I can understand that. My longest lens is 300mm and for my smallish back garden that is not enough for me to get a decent shot of a small bird, easily.

To get closer you need to get the birds to come to you, which could be some form of camourflage. This could be a hide but also setting up a feeder close to an open window but draping some fabric around the opening to disguise you and the camera.

For some birds an alternative is different food. Robins, which are very tolerant of humans anyway, will do almost anything to get live meal worms. It takes a bit of time but getting a robin within a few feet is fairly easy. Great tits are also fairly tolerant if live meal worms are on offer.

There is also an element of knowing your subject. Finches tend to sit and eat (and also spill loads of seeds on the ground), so are a little easier to photograph. The tit family do not sit, they grab and go, so catching them is more difficult.

I find sunflower hearts the best seed food; all the garden birds appear to like them. In my garden peanuts get ignored as do fat balls, but the square fat cakes are well liked, especially by starlings.

Dave
 
Where do you live,town or rural?
 
I live on the edge of a town about 7 mins walk from farmer's fields.

I do think my 300mm lens is a bit short and my feeders have to remain due to the garden layout.

I might try live mealworms. My birds like the fatballs but not peanuts.

I think one problem is that we get many jackdaws, magpies and wood pigeons, not to mention cats in the area.

I'd be happy with a regular blue tit! I've never seen a woodpecker, siskin, greenfinch, chaffinch or redpoll apart from at a tourist attraction!
 
I've been using a place recently that allows me to park my van up and open the side door within 5-6 metres of a crowd of blue tits, great tits, sparrows, dunnocks, chaffinches, occasional jay.

I'm sitting in full view of the birds and they aren't bothered in the slightest. In fact when I put out a bit of seed the blue tits are perched about 2 feet away waiting for me to go.

There is another place 30 mins drive away where they will come and stand on your hand and feed.

Both these places are rural and have a lot of people passing who must feed the birds so I'd look for somewhere similar.
 
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Mainly shoot down the river and up local res. and places like that with a few private woodlands, Live fairly rural so always a bonus, 2min walk from my house and your in the middle of the woods.
 
Local fishing ponds, wildlife reserves or just walk about in local woods. Hides are definitely useful but Im presently just bimbling about in stealth mode learning how to creep up on the little beasties.
 
Occasionally in mine or mother inlaws garden, mainy I am an oppurtunist walking and watching and if come across activity will sit behind cover available or lay down on theground and wait, it seems to me that if birds see you after about 30 mins provided you have kept fairly still they will start to carry on as if you are not there, one example I have had snow bunting almost perching on the end of my lens, I get enjoyment out of observing a photo of a good standard is a bonus.
 
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