Tripod Set

I love seeing how photos are taken and how movies are shot. It's fascinating.

I went wild recently and bought myself a tripod. It's great for being able to set up a camera in place, focus and then wait for a bird. Today I got frustrated with the window reflections, and it's warm enough, so I put my camera up in the doorway. Then I kept my eyes open and tried to sneak over whenever a bird landed at one of the feeders. Mostly, they didn't hang out once I was in the doorway, alas.

I didn't have any luck at first with the orange, so I switched over to the suet feeder. Here's the set up.

The afternoon light's pretty harsh at this angle, but the bird is pretty clear, way clearer than when I take the picture through a window and screen (as here, for example, though the bird is way closer in that shot). (Both are Downy Woodpeckers.)

I had five species visit the suet feeder today: Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Crow, and Blue Jay.

Three species visited the orange: House Finch, Cardinal, and Baltimore Oriole.

And I also had Goldfinches, a Song Sparrow (bathing), and Cowbirds eating seed. (Though some of the others also ate seed.)