Make A Suet Log For Better Photographs

 

While we’re on the subject of cheap, effective, easy to make feeder stands, I wanted to pass along one of my favorite perches for Woodpeckers (and loads of other birds). While the previous stand I blogged about was cheap (less than $20 - link on the right side of the page), this one is darned near free! Below is a wide-shot of the feeder:

 

As you can imagine, it doesn’t take a degree in feeder-building to construct this thing. EVERYTHING you need to build this is as follows:

      o  1 log about 3 feet long with a diameter of 4 or 5 inches

      o  1 scrap piece of 2x12 board maybe 2 feet long or a similar piece of plywood

      o  2 decent sized nails

      o  Hammer

      o  Hand Drill with 1/4 inch and 1 inch drill bits

      o  Suet or Peanut Butter

      o  2 Cans of Beer (optional - see following paragraph)

If you don’t have these larger drill bits – DON’T BUY THEM! Your next door neighbor has them, just borrow them and share the beer. The diameter of the holes you use isn’t terribly important. Larger or smaller is fine:

Not to insult your intelligence, but here’s what you do with the above pile of stuff. Nail the log to the board - go crazy and use both nails. I use a smallish log for this purpose because it's easier to move around the yard. Drill a 1/4 inch diameter about an inch deep in the top of the log. Cram it full of peanut butter or suet (that's the brown muck in the middle):

 

Drill a 1 inch diameter hole on the side of the log about an inch deep and about 6 inches from the top. Cram it full of peanut butter or suet too:

Place the setup near your regular feeders for a day or two so that the woodpeckers learn how to use it. Once they figure it out, they will check it out often for goodies.

I like to position the holes so that they are just out of sight of the camera. This also puts the birds at the perfect angle for photos. I place the feeder where the light is good and the background is nice. Below is a focused shot of the background I used for most of the shots below which makes a nice, colorful background when it’s out of focus:

When you put this device near other feeders, all sorts of birds that aren’t looking for peanut butter or suet will use the top for a perch going to or from someplace else. Here's some of the shots - Downy Woodpecker (the 1 inch hole is in front of the bird, just out of sight):

 

 

 

Hairy Woodpecker:

 

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker on the top hole:

 

 

 

White-breasted Nuthatch (the hole with peanut butter is near the tail):

 

 

 

Tufted Titmouse:

 

 

 

Bluebird using the top for other purposes (eating an insect):

 



 

Thanks for stopping by! You can see more of my work at:

www.stevebyland.com

and:

www.flickr.com/photos/steve_byland/

 

My email is sbbyland@aol.com

 

Create Your Own Bird Sanctuary

If you love birds, you’ve probably visited a nature sanctuary near your home and marveled at the wildlife. The feeders at the visitor center are teeming with birds of all kinds. It may be only a 15 minute drive, but it might as well be an entire world away.

Apple trees are the perfect cover for birds year round. They have insects in spring and summer, apples through the fall, and thick masses of branches in the winter

So, what is the difference between YOUR back yard and THIS place? You have a feeder or two and get your share of Cardinals and Chickadees, especially in the winter. Still, your yard pales in comparison to the local nature center. They always seem to have something special.

Don’t you wish that your backyard was more like the nature center? It could be. You may not have 100 acres, a pond, open fields and wooded acres like they do, but there are things that you can learn from them to attract more birds into your own yard. I live less than 30 miles from New York City and sometimes feel like I’m directly in the flight path to the Newark Airport, but my yard is swarming with birds. While writing this article, I took a break to take care of the birds in my yard. It’s going to be over 100 degrees today, and they appreciate a little extra attention. I put out some dried meal worms for the Bluebirds and their newly fledged young. The Hummingbird feeders needed to be cleaned and refilled. The Catbirds and Woodpeckers have emptied the suet feeder again. I wiped the birdbaths clean and filled them with cool water. Some seed in the platform feeder, another handful sprinkled on the ground, a few peanuts for the Squirrels, and I was back inside in less than 10 minutes.  During that time, I encountered about 50 birds and close to 20 species. If I had stayed out an hour, I would have probably had closer to 35 species.

Even if birds that don’t come to your feeders may use butterfly bushes like this Common Yellowthroat. Hummingbirds and butterflies will visit in the summer for nectar and insects

Was my yard always like this? Certainly not. It took years to entice Bluebirds to nest here, but they are now fixtures in my neighborhood. The same is true for Hummingbirds. They can be difficult to attract to nest in my part of the country, but I have them visiting my feeders all summer long like clockwork – about every 10 minutes. How did I do it? More important, how can YOU do it too?

Think of creating a backyard bird sanctuary the same way you would think about planting a beautiful garden. Most new homeowners have had the experience of moving into a house, admiring the neighbor’s beautiful garden, then rushing to the garden center for a few flats of flowers. Once in the ground, most of the flowers died within a few weeks and we moaned “I just don’t have a green thumb.” It’s the same thing with birds. We bought a feeder and bag of seed at the hardware store and set it up. It either attracted nothing and the seed spoiled, or we got only Starlings and House Sparrows. “There just aren’t any good birds in my neighborhood,” we said. Why did the flowers die? Why no flock of pretty songbirds? The answer is pretty much the same. They didn’t get what they needed. Flowers need the right soil, the correct amount of light and the proper amount of water. Needs differ for each type of flower. Birds are no different.

Some feeders are designed to prevent “undesirable” birds such as Starlings like this suet feeder that can only be accessed from below 

Each species of bird has very specific needs. If you give them what they want, they will probably come to your yard. Okay, what do they need? 

• Safety from predators
• Food
• Water
• A place to nest and raise their young (assuming that they breed in your area)

ALL of these are important. Let’s look at each of them.

Safety From Predators – A bird’s eye view of the world is one filled with danger. Hawks above, cats and other predators below. The best shelters come from trees, bushes, brush piles and tall grass. Of course, predators use the same things for cover, so keep a little open space between sheltered areas so that the birds can use their keen eyesight to keep watch. Plan and manage the habitat – that’s what they do at the nature center.

 Hummingbird feeders need not be fancy. Red feeders with yellow flowers are recognized by most hummingbirds as a good source of food. This feeder is about the size of a roll of quarters and cost less than $5.00

Food – This is something that might take a little research. For optimum success, you need to know what birds are in your area at each time of year, what their favorite foods are, their preferred type of feeder, etc. You need to match the type of feeder and food to the species you want to attract. Cardinals, for instance, prefer platform feeders with black oil sunflower seeds. Hummingbirds want sugar water feeders. Woodpeckers, Catbirds and Titmice love suet. A visit to the local nature center can put you on the right track here. Don’t go crazy at first. Just get a few feeders with the appropriate food at first and work your way up slowly. Remember to place the feeders close to the safe places mentioned above. Make sure they are where you can see them as well so that you enjoy your new friends and remember to feed them. Keep the feeders clean, but you don’t need to fill them to the top until the birds are eating more. Having fresh food is important. Since the species of birds in your area changes with the seasons, so will the types of food you should offer.

 This birdbath is heated for year-round use and can accommodate the whole family

Water – Birds need water year-round. Birdbaths range from expensive heated affairs with cascading waterfalls to something homemade. Try turning over a large flower pot, placing the base on top and filling the base with water. The important thing is that the water be clean and available at all times. Not all birds come to feeders, but almost all come to water.

  Here is part of the same family bathing in a bath made from a large, broken flower pot and its base

Nesting – Some songbird species will nest in birdhouses and some will not. Bluebirds, Swallows, Chickadees and Wrens are among some of the more popular songbirds that use nest boxes. Each prefers a slightly different kind of box that will meet their needs while discouraging other species. You might want to buy birdhouses that target the species you want from a manufacturer such as Duncraft (www.duncraft.com) that has different birdhouses for different species. Other birds will probably nest in the sheltered areas listed earlier.

Birdhouses can be made from plans easily found on the internet and can be customized for different species. This box has a wide hole to let more than one baby Tree Swallow look out at a time.

If you are a photographer, like I am, think about lighting while you make your plans. I have a spot in my yard that gets fantastic light in the afternoon. Guess where I put the Bluebird house. Most of my feeders and birdhouses can be rotated to follow the sun provide different backgrounds. I do most of my photography from a blind that keeps me out of the sun and minimizes disturbance to the birds.

Smaller bird houses are perfect for smaller birds such as Wrens, Chickadees and Titmice

Like a beautiful garden, a backyard bird sanctuary grows and matures over time. Every year, you can make it a little better, a little safer and a little more attractive to you and the birds that will come to call your yard home.

Steve Byland is a wildlife photographer living in suburban New Jersey. His photos can be seen at www.stevebyland.com – many of which were taken in his own backyard. You can email him at sbbyland@aol.com

How to Photograph Birds Crossing the Moon

Snow Geese crossing the moon in late afternoon - notice that the moon isn't quite full

Using the moon as a background in a photo can make for a really fantastic shot. A shot of a bull Elk bugling with the moon so large that it fills half the scene or a flock of geese passing in front of a full moon can be pretty dramatic. Unfortunately, the better the shot, the more likely that people will assume that it has been photoshopped – actually, not too bad an assumption.

If you think about it, such shots can be incredibly tough to get. The moon is only full (or nearly full) a few days each month. The sky has to be clear, and the subject needs to be positioned properly. Photos with the moon rising are particularly difficult. The window for getting such a shot is incredibly short. The moon is only positioned properly on the horizon for a minute or so. It’s no wonder that people assume that such photos are more the result of time spent at the keyboard rather than behind a lens.

I’m not saying that there is necessarily anything wrong with digital manipulation (unless you try to pass it off as the real deal). The problem comes when the artist puts together two objects together that aren’t possible to capture in the same frame. An extreme example would be a setting sun next to a full moon – two objects that are never next to each other in the sky. Most people would catch that right away, but there are other, more subtle things to look for that may make you suspect shenanigans.

More Snow Geese

The best way to tell the difference between a (potentially) manipulated shot and the general article is often a matter of perfection as well as imperfection. A photoshopped photo will generally contain both elements. Consider the position of the full moon relative to the sun. A few days before the moon is full, it rises before sunset. The full moon rises as the sun sets. You won’t have a completely full moon out during daylight hours. A completely full moon against a bright blue sky with a Bald Eagle crossing it just can’t happen, however, an ALMOST full-moon against a beautiful blue sky IS possible one or two days each month. Another problem comes from depth of field. Having the moon with other subject all in relatively good focus is no easy task, especially if the second subject is moving. Getting the moon to fill the frame requires a long lens. Getting all of the elements in focus requires great depth of field, which comes at the price of high ISO (introducing noise) and/or slow shutter speed because of a small aperture. In other words, don’t expect to get a crisp shot of a Peregrine Falcon crossing the moon.

Digitally manipulated shot - the focus on all subjects (especially the moon) is too sharp. This was made from the next two photos - California Condors, BTW

Now that I’ve established how difficult it is to come by great shots of the moon with wildlife, let’s look at how you can get such a shot in the real world, without the help of a software program. If you know what situations ARE possible, you can put yourself in a position to get some pretty dramatic photos. As I mentioned before, a few days before the moon is completely full, it rises before sunset. That isn’t perfect, but it can be close enough. Another thing that works to you benefit in these conditions is that the sun will be at your back, which IS perfect for many shots. You might be lucky enough to just find yourself in the right place at the right time, but you can dramatically increase your chances with a little planning. Find a table that tells you when the sun and moon rise and set and circle those days when the moon rises an hour or two before the sun sets to capture a nearly full moon against a blue sky. Alternatively, if you want silhouettes against a full moon, you’ll want to be in position while the moon is still low in the sky. The best time of year is often winter when the air is cold and haze is at a minimum.

       I didn't follow my own advice - I focused on the moon. The Condor was too close and ended up out of focus.

I’ve had the most success with the nearly full moon against a blue sky which occurs just before sunset. The reason for this is that it is still light enough to see the birds coming, which allows enough time to react and shoot. Also, monsters come out after dark, especially when the moon is full. Everybody knows that. Another advantage of shooting in the late afternoon is that many birds are flying at this time of day in order to get to where they plan to spend the night. I have had the best luck with ducks and geese as there tend to be lots of them, improving the chance of success. That pretty much covers “what” “where” and “when,” leaving us with “how?”

Condors in better focus - no moon

If you’ve ever taken a photo of the moon, you know how small it will appear in the picture. To make the moon appear large, you need to use a long lens. I recommend 400mm at a minimum, but preferably longer – as long as you’ve got. You’ll also want to use a tripod and a remote shutter release. The idea is to mount the camera on a tripod and watch for birds that might cross the moon. When they approach, you hit the shutter release, but first things first. As mentioned earlier, you want plenty of depth of field to have the moon and the birds in fairly good focus. Ideally, shoot in manual mode.  Try to get and exposure that provides an aperture of about f/9 or better and a shutter speed of 1/500^th or faster. You’ll need to adjust the ISO to get the overall exposure right. Take some test shots and check the histogram. Where to focus is a challenge. If you focus directly on the moon, the birds will be soft and vice versa. Focus manually (you don’t want the camera hunting when it counts), take some test shots and adjust as necessary. Error towards having the moon in focus if the birds are silhouettes and focus more on the birds if it is light enough to see detail on them.

Sort of a bonus shot - Snow Geese Flying in front of setting sun

Once you have everything set up, stand back with the camera pointed where you want it and watch for birds approaching the moon. With the camera set to take continuous shots, start shooting before the birds get to the moon and continue shooting until they are past. You might have to adjust a bit if you have a low burst rate. Keep checking your histogram. It is very easy to mess up the exposure as the moon rises and the sun starts to set. This isn’t going to be easy, but it will be fun and when you do finally manage to nail a couple of shots, it will be worth the effort that went into it.

You can see thousands of my photos at http://www.stevebyland.com/ They are all available for sale as prints or license. I can be reached by email at sbbyland@aol.com

The Man Cave

View of the front - note the wheels

and the foot rest under the cameras

A lot of people who know me have heard about “The Man Cave,” which is my own, custom-build blind that I use for photography in my backyard. If you don’t know me (and I can’t imagine WHY you would be reading this if you don’t, but we’ll ignore your lack of judgment – for now) I am a professional wildlife photographer. I have used a variety of blinds for a number of years – mostly those pop-up camo blinds, in order to allow my subjects to get closer to me and to keep me out of the elements – more or less. They are a great tool, but they wear out, blow over in strong winds and you have to take them in and out every day. They can also get a little cramped inside with tripods, chairs, coolers and such.

A little plastic on top helps keep out the rain

About two years ago, I decided that I wanted something a bit more permanent. I knew the basic elements that I wanted – weather resistant, solid and movable. I even knew the size (4’ x 5’ x 6’ – W x L x H). Now, all I had to do was build it.

Run-flat wheels were a later addition

I got a flat early on - AAA does not service photo blinds

Use Perches For Better Photos - Part I

Male Bluebird

Canon 7d - 300mm f/4.5 1/400th Second ISO 500

   
I’m known for a couple of things; a twisted sense of humor, the occasional good photo, and the creative use of stumps as perches for my shots. I don’t really much care for shots of birds on feeders, so I try to put something more attractive close by for them to pose on for me.

Placement of tripod with Branch - Canon Powershot

 

It may take a bit of getting used to, but you start to get a feel for what birds will land on and where best to place them. I often strap a log or branch to an old tripod so that I have more flexibility with the final positioning. Play around a bit until you get the light the way you want it.

Close-up of tripod - Canon Powershot

Lucky To Be Alive

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (dangerous)

 

Photography can be a dangerous profession. You never know what (or who) you are going to run into.

 Tarantula (scary, but not dangerous)

     

Last summer, I went to Arizona in August to witness the Hummingbird migration, but I also had a few special creatures on my “wish list.” In the tiny town of Portal, I was hoping to photograph Nectar Bats - large bats that often visit Hummingbird feeders at night.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

(not very dangerous)

   

How To Build A Natural-Looking Birdhouse

  

For thousands of years, many species of birds have relied on tree cavities made by woodpecker in which to build their nests. Bluebirds, Wrens, Titmice, Chickadees and Swallows often competed for the same holes. Sometimes a single cavity could serve as a home to two or three different species in a single year. Different strategies, habitat preferences and timing have allowed for native species to co-exist despite constant skirmishes. Shortly after coming to North America, European settlers brought with them two species of birds that forever changed the delicate balance that existed. In the late 1800’s the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) arrived on our shores. These two species are more aggressive than many native birds and gained a decided advantage over other species, causing their numbers to swell.