Episode Seven: Garden bird photography - setting up perches
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- In the seventh episode, presenter Mark Carwardine discusses how to set up perches and take brilliant photos of garden birds in this short expert masterclass.
The series will consist of ten videos in total, released weekly on Thursdays from 15 April. For each episode, free fact sheets are available to download from Mark Carwardine's website.
About the presenter
Zoologist Mark Carwardine is a widely published wildlife photographer, an award-winning writer, a TV and radio presenter, a best-selling author of more than 50 books, and an outspoken environmentalist.
He was also Chair of the Judging Panel of the prestigious ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ competition for seven years and was selected as one of ‘The World’s 40 Most Influential Nature Photographers’ in Outdoor Photography magazine.
Mark Carwardine is the presenter of the BBC Wildlife Photography Masterclass series
He presented BBC Radio 4’s weekly programme Nature for many years and is best known for his Last Chance to See books, radio series and TV series with the late Douglas Adams and Stephen Fry. He has been writing a conservation column in BBC Wildlife magazine every month since 2004.
I thought for sure this was the bird feeder to stop squirrels. I PAID ALMOST $50 US FOR ONE AND IN 3 DAYS I LOOKED OUT AND THERE WAS A SQUIRREL INSIDE THE FEEDER. I admit I didn't have it on a pole with a baffle.
This video is a great video with good ideas for photographing birds.
superbly simple , but brilliant. Thank you.
Great video Mark, that sock example is funny, the best photo!!
Lot’a homework…starting point for great work. Gr8 video. Thank you for the lucid presentation.
Great video. I have been a wildlife/nature photographer for a while and it’s a real passion.
Just found you here but pleased I did great tips and ideas flooding in to my head now, will be looking at more thanks
Great video, thanks. All my shots are feeder shots, now I know what to try instead!
Wonderful video, well explained, thank you
Love it, great advice. Thank you. Phil
Enjoying all the videos! Will you go over the remote setup later?
And love your Springer dog. I’ve two myself.
Really getting into this series as it’s touching on most of the things I like to do as a wildlife photographer. My bird tree has just had it’s second visit from a Woodpecker so now just to hide those artificial food sources.
Wonderful video. What is the name of the feeding station in this video. Thanks in advance
Great video.
Thank you
Best and most informative video of this type I've seen. Im 83 years old going to buy a new camera just to try these tips.
Mark, I have looked through your website (to which you directed us) to find the details of the feeding station and where to purchase it from to no avail. Am I not seeing it or has the information been removed? Please help.
Where did you get the feeder with closeable openings?
Can't find the birdfeeder on the website as stated
It would be helpful if you could explain how to fix on the branches especially those at a 45 degree angle.
Hi Kathryn. Sorry - hard to know how much to include (without going on and on!). Hope this helps. Cheers, Mark C
There are many ways of setting up perches, of course, but here are three that will allow you easily to move them into any position you want:
Stick an old garden pole, a piece of bamboo or a metal stake into the ground and then attach the perch at whatever height you prefer.
Many inexpensive tripods have a hole in the handle - simply stick your perch into that.
Put a plant pot or bucket full of soil or sand onto an old stool or table and stick your perch in that.
You then need something to hold the perch firmly in place. Back-to-back Velcro strips work very well (one side is hooked and the other side looped - so you only need one strip) and you can use them time and time again. Alternatively, try using a ’Wimberley plamp’, which has a clamp on each end, one for a pole and the other for your special perch (or consider a ‘bendy arm’, which is designed for a mobile phone but works just as well and is considerably cheaper).
Don’t use too many plastic cable ties, if you can help it. You’ll need lots if you’re shooting with different perches and it’s an unnecessary waste of environmentally-harmful plastic.
The end result will look rather messy, but don’t worry about how your outdoor studio looks. You’re not going for a design award. It doesn’t have to look pretty - as long as it works - because most of it’s not going to be in the picture anyway.
To keep the squirrels from your feed, try Cole's flaming squirrel Seed Sauce. It is hot and the squirrels get a taste and do not return. It doesn't bother the birds and doesn't hurt the squirrels.
Thanks for the video, I have been doing much the same but mainly through glass, winter, now summer is coming, at last. I will share a couple of tips with you, if you are using a leafy twig as a prop put the end in water, out of shot, hot sun will make it droopy very quick, for my next tip, Turn off economy in your camera, I set up the camera on a tripod, aperture priority, with a fast shutter speed, focused on the spot where the bird is going to land, I am watching on the LCD out of the birds sight, at the precise moment I fire the camera with a remote release, it is a waiting game for good results. My problem is attracting birds, other than sparrows, any ideas?
A year on and I now have a unique problem, Too many birds, 20 Sparrows, and 6 Spotted Doves have taken over and refuse to fly away which makes it difficult to entice other birds onto my perches. My setup area is about 10 feet from the camera, any food is fought over and gone in a few seconds, Am I lucky or what?
I have a problem. My backyard is filled with small trees so birds prefer to stand on them, but even though theyre “small” they’re still too tall for close ups, how can I make her stand on the perches instead of those trees?
If you use Cole's sauce, you have to wear plastic cloves or you might get some on your hands and then your eyes.
May I ask that putting bird feeders near windows not be a promoted practice. This can be detrimental for birds being drawn to windows and increasing collisions with the glass, one of the leading causes of death from the ground to 40 feet above.
Keep up the great work educating new photographers on building skills before heading outdoors
Loved the video but not sure I agree that the bird not been the most attractive is a problem. Just imagine if you said that about a Human subject it would be a career ender. I think for animals taking pictures of those a little different or scruffy is great. Nowadays Instagram etc. pushes people towards that sort of perfection or nothing approach and tbh I'm not a fan
Lovely video Mark. May I throw in a suggestion to avoid squirrels? I'm a professional wildlife hide designer from India and I faced the same problem with squirrels getting at the feeders, and not just eating the bird feed, but their numbers and their activity would spook smaller birds away.
The way I got around this problem was to observe which directions the squirrels would come in from and then I placed the same feed on the ground in plates or bowls, usually under larger plants. This way, the birds wouldn't see this feed from their perches but the squirrels would at ground level and because this little buffet was set up en route to the perches, they would stop right there and eat. This meant that the perches weren't attracting the squirrels any more, except for an occasional greedy one.
This has worked well at my hide and is a standard practice for all the hides I design and it has worked pretty well.
I live in Sweden where we do not want to deter squirrels - we only have the delightful red variety here. Encouraging a red squirrel into the garden using nuts from the hazel tree placed atop an old stump is just as rewarding as providing perches for garden birds. In any case, red squirrels here don't go for the bird feeders.
About bird feeders. Take some bark and wrap around feeder perch. Take closeups and it looks like they are sitting on a branch.
Well I hope those ugly birds aren’t watching this video 😢
Just started in this field. Very interesting and informative. Thank you ... 😉👍
Squirrel …………..”mmmmm chilli powder peanuts.my favourite!
Que fotografias maravilhosas👏
Excelente explicação 👏
Abraço desde Aveiro Portugal 🇵🇹
Interesting. Can you use similar techniques to stage butterfly photos?
I've wanted a setup like this for a long time but didn't know how to do it. It looks easy but I'm sure I have hours to get it done. Thank you.
excellent information.
Brill 👍🏻
Thank you for the great tips !.. I wonder what camera/lens these were taken with... 1DX of some kind and 600mm f.4 ?..
There is info on Mark's free fact sheets: www.markcarwardine.com/youtube.html
@@facebook-wc7je Thank you...
Where can I find that screw in feeder?
You can see where on the last page of Mark's free fact sheet: www.markcarwardine.com/uploads/documents/technical/perches.pdf