Nature Photography

This is the first in a series of articles with tips on how to photograph wildlife in your backyard.


WHERE THE BIRDS ARE . . .

Tried and True Tips to Outfox the Shy Creatures at Your Backyard Feeder
For Outstanding Pictures!


That's it! I've had it!

Highly frustrated, I jammed my equipment back in the bag and went inside the house for a well-deserved break. As I finally began to relax with a steaming cup of coffee, I suddenly realized that my defiant howl had not only reached the recently vacated branches, but probably every house in the neighborhood. I never had seen such reluctant photographic subjects. You'd think that I was trying to shoot them with a high-powered gun, rather than a harmless little camera. It seemed a mockery to my professional skills as a photographer to be rewarded over and again with pictures of disembodied birds, receding squirrel tails, and dozens of out-of-focus shots. I vowed to simply fill the feeders with seed for the winged brats and stop trying to get those spectacular pictures other photographers seem to net with ease.

That particular episode occurred just over a year ago. Now I have an arsenal of tactics at my disposal, which, though not foolproof, are useful allies in defeating my backyard nemesis: the bird feeder.

Through trial and error (I'm ashamed to say “mostly error”) I have worked out a system for photographing the little critters who pay a call to our humble feeders (I can=t even call them freeloaders since I'm the one who provides the food). Here in the North Georgia mountains, we have a wonderful mixture of opportunistic species who act as though they would literally starve if I neglect to fill the feeders twice a week, or more often if the squirrels conveniently forget which feeder is their own. Overlooking this wildlife wonderland is a large, elevated deck cantilevered over a wooded ravine, which, in turn, bottoms out into a wet weather creek a perfect environment for our woodland friends. With four feeders two for the birds with squirrel baffles, a separate feeding station for the squirrels (I learned early on either fight 'em or join 'em), and a hummingbird feeder the stage it set for wildlife viewing and, with a little luck and practice, photography. I've tried many different methods to capture these illusive creatures, and those brainstorms eventually resulted in the following changes: equipment, position of the camera, and wildlife conditioning.