Lockdown Garden Bird Photography
Lockdown and travel restrictions may be essential in the fight against Covid-19, but there’s no denying the frustration that results if you are an active bird photographer. However, self-isolation doesn’t have to mean stagnation and, with a bit in ingenuity and creativity, you can make the most of this challenging situation with some stay-at-home photoshoots. If you do, then not only will you take some great images and restore your zest for life, but you will also have a chance to benefit birdlife into the bargain.
Text and photos © Paul Sterry.
1. Food and feeding birds to improve photo-opportunities
Feeding gardens birds is a familiar concept and has a role to play in bird photography. Subjects can be enticed to visit locations of your choosing, and in ways that improve your ability to capture images with composition, lighting, and background in mind. Obviously, you need to tailor the food to suit the species in question, so an understanding and appreciation of dietary requirements and feeding habits will improve your chances of success.
Garden feeders
Garden bird foods range from sunflower- and seed-feeders, to fat-ball dispensers and half-coconut shells. You can also scatter food on the ground – windfall apples and seed mix.
With this range of methods deployed, many UK gardens have the potential to host a dozen or more bird species in good numbers. In general, more individuals and species are present in winter than summer.
In the UK, late January is usually the most productive time of the year: natural resources in the countryside are at their lowest ebb, elevating the significance of garden food for birds.
A typical bird feeder, this one designed to accommodate peanuts.
A well-stocked, multi-port feeder will attract an array of species and here we see House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Greenfinch.
Getting to know you
Attracting birds to your feeders is the easy part, but taking pictures worthy of the effort requires a bit more consideration. If you regularly sit or stand quietly near the feeders with your camera set up, over a period of days or weeks most birds will become accustomed to your presence and you will not need a hide.
The result is more satisfying for anyone who gets a thrill from feeling connected to nature. It allows the photographer more freedom to shift position, following the progress of the sun during the day, for example.
In the UK, but not elsewhere in Europe, the Robin is bold and unafraid, often seeking out people actively working in the garden. Robins make great photographic subjects.
Back to nature
If you are content to capture birds sitting or perching on artificial feeders, then photography will be straightforward. But with a bit of imagination and planning you can end up with images that look like they were taken in the wild; that’s the real challenge.
The simplest approach is to place natural twigs and branches adjacent to the access ports of a feeder and hungry birds will queue up and perch briefly. Be sure to think about the choice of perch though and, using clamps, if you can mimic the twig’s orientation in nature then the illusion becomes more convincing.
A male Siskin at a feeder.
A male Siskin perched prior to feeding on a strategically-place nearby perch.
Background knowledge
An appreciation of avian natural history can help creativity. As an example, let’s take goldfinches and their fondness for teasel seeds. Not everyone has teasels growing in their garden, but most people can find a spiky seed head during their daily exercise. Take one home and try scattering niger seeds onto it - shaken gently, the seeds will lodge in cavities in the teasel head and augment or substitute the teasel’s own seeds.
Placed in the garden, the head will be irresistible to goldfinches and allow you to achieve natural-looking photographic results.
Birds are creatures of habit and understanding this will help you capture interesting shots. For example, when small birds (such as this Goldfinch) take flight from a regularly-used perch (such as this Teasel) they usually fly off in the same direction and descend slightly before their wings provide lift. With autofocus turned off, and by best-guessing the focal point and placement, you stand a chance of getting a natural flight shot such as this.
Specialist feeders
Woodpeckers and nuthatches have bills designed to excavate wood and chip away at bark, an adaptation that allows them find hidden insects. However, in the winter months they include seeds and nuts in their diet and will visit garden feeders; this switch can be used to photographic advantage.
Try drilling appropriate size holes in a branch and plugging them individually with peanuts; the birds will soon discover the food. If drilled at 90 degrees to the direction of photography, the holes will be invisible in the resulting image.
Concealed drilled holes containing peanuts were all the enticement this Great Spotted Woodpecker needed for a photogenic visit to the garden.
The natural look
Having created a natural-looking set-up for photography, you will soon amass a collection of excellent images of your regular customers. Having reached that point, then it’s time to explore your artistic streak.
To create an atmospheric woodland ‘feel’, try placing foliage (cut in your garden) between you and your favourite perch, so the leaves are completely out of focus and frame the subject.
This Blue Tit was photographed as it approached a winter feeding-station, with its perch framed by appropriate placement of foliage.
Photographing through a veil of out-of-focus leaves lends an intimate feel to this portrait of a Jay.
Seed mixes: winter finches and buntings
Although some finch and bunting species will visit feeders, many prefer to feed on a table or on the ground as they would in nature. Scatter seeds and grain, but perhaps experiment with twig perches overhanging any concentration of food, or perhaps an adjacent mossy branch.
Before they begin feeding, Bramblings will often perch momentarily on a strategic perch that allows them to observe proceedings, and spot potential danger.
Flight shots
Numbers of birds build up as a feeding station becomes an established garden feature and before long birds will be queuing up for access, sometimes hovering while they wait their turn. This provides opportunities for images of birds in flight using natural light, opportunities that a canny photographer can enhance.
For a brief period – a few minutes perhaps – try temporarily taping over all but one of the feeding ports, thus concentrating the attentions of the birds. Done briefly, it represents just a subtle interruption in the daily feeding pattern of your birds.
Don’t overdo the approach, however, because there is a chance the birds will abandon you in favour of easier pickings in neighbouring gardens.
This Marsh Tit routinely hovered near a feeder’s opening, preferring this option to perching. A shutter speed of 1/4000th second was needed to ‘freeze’ the movement of the wings.
Before landing on a bird table, this Collared Dove habitually perched nearby first, in this instance on a strategically placed fork handle. Knowing its routine allowed the camera to capture the approach, the focus having been best-guessed in advance, autofocus disabled and by having the frame rate on maximum.
2. Water and Bird Photography
All living things depend on water to a greater or lesser degree, and birds are no exception. Almost all species need regular access to water for drinking and bathing, and catering for their needs can benefit the photographer as well as the birds themselves.
Small garden ponds as well as elevated water baths are options. With photography in mind, you need to pay close attention to the installation’s visual appeal through the lens, and to the background.
Once all the rage, eye-level ‘reflection pools’ still have their place in garden bird photography. To create one, plan the installation of a garden pond so that the water surface is not obscured in front (you can then use the camera almost at water level) and with no distractions in the background.
Perfect reflections are one of the outcomes of this low-level approach. The downside is that images can lack individuality. Regardless, there is a good guide to creating one found here.
Drinking
Some birds satisfy their dietary water requirements via the food they eat, or by drinking at puddles and pools they chance upon. But many rely on permanent fixtures – ponds and stream margins, for example – to quench their thirst. Provide a reliable alternative, such as a bird bath, and a range of birds will soon be visiting on a regular basis.
When it comes to photographing drinking birds, lighting can make all the difference. This Collared Dove was photographed just after dawn.
For a spot of creativity, try experimenting with take-off, as with this ‘alternative’ image of a Collared Dove.
Bathing
From a photographic point of view, drinking birds provide some great opportunities. Bathing birds create opportunities too but come with challenges and choices as well. With action shots and water droplets spraying everywhere, you can adopt the ‘frozen in time’ approach or use slow shutter speeds to create blur and movement.
iming is a factor too: with land birds, whose feathers lack the water-repellent properties of water birds, once the main action is over you are left with a bedraggled individual that is far from photogenic. With bathing birds, speed is key – worthwhile photography can last just a few seconds.
Moments after beginning its bath this bird’s plumage became soaked and bedraggled. Much of the photographic interest came from capturing the water droplets. See if you can guess the identity of the bird.
Creativity
Using a bit of imagination, birds that visit water can provide photographic opportunities other than capturing them drinking and bathing. Specifically, the way that birds approach water lends itself to some artful manipulation.
At the simplest level, you could install a mossy log at the margin of the pool or in its centre; birds will often alight on this first before visiting the water. But you might want to try deploying a slender branch, perhaps three to four feet long, and arrange it (with clamps and ties) so that the tip enters the edge of the water at a shallow angle.
If the other end is located in the cover of a bush then so much the better. Small songbirds will often land on the branch and work their way down to the water in stages, posing briefly in the same plane as the branch.
These days overwintering Blackcaps are regular in UK gardens, especially in the south. This one was visiting a garden pond and photographed working its way down a twig to have a wash and brush up.
These days overwintering Blackcaps are regular in UK gardens, especially in the south. This one was visiting a garden pond and photographed working its way down a twig to have a wash and brush up.
3. Patience and fieldcraft
For experienced observers, sound is often the way they first detect birds in the field. Develop these skills yourself and you will be surprised to discover previously overlooked species in your garden. These unobtrusive birds are often indifferent to the presence of people which can make them a delight to photograph as they go about their daily business.
In many ways, Wrens often behave a bit like avian mice, creeping through the undergrowth in search of insects and other invertebrates. Occasionally, however, they emerge and perch in the open. By observation you can work out which perches they prefer, station yourself accordingly. Sooner or later your patience will be rewarded.
In most situations feeding Goldcrests are seemingly completely oblivious to people, making them great photographic subjects. Like many small birds, they usually follow a ‘circuit’ in the bushes as they feed and sooner or later will re-appear in the same spot. Rather than chase them around with your camera, spend time working out the best photographic location on their route and just wait.
4. Beyond the UK
Although this article is UK-orientated, the use of food and water to enhance garden bird photography can be applied almost anywhere in the world where gardens feature in people’s lives. While the principles will remain the same, different species will be involved of course and there will be subtle variations in food requirements too. Furthermore, water plays a more significant role in the lives of birds in hot regions of the world.
In West Africa, most starling species are much more colourful than their UK counterpart. Most, including this Purple Glossy-starling, are regular visitors to water, including dripping taps and water provided by thoughtful garden owners.
In parts of southern Europe and the Middle East, Spanish Sparrows are a familiar sight, and are regular visitors to pools, both natural and artificial, for bathing and drinking.
In Central America and parts of the Caribbean Purple Honeycreepers can be attracted to the garden with a selection of juicy fruits.
Throughout much of the New World, hummingbird feeders are popular garden features, providing sugar water for these avian jewels. This Ruby Topaz is waiting for its turn to drink, hovering rather than perching being its preferred option.
Are you ready? Enter the Bird Photographer of the Year competition.