Pulling the birds

new2me

new2me

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So, I was wondering whether you could help me get some birds back to my pad :)

I'm temporarily living in a loft conversion in a nice quiet area of town, overlooking several gardens that have frequent feathered visitors and I want to coax some to my balcony.

The balcony is approx 3x1m accessed by full length clear glazed doors, so I should get a decent shot from inside without disturbing anything that landed there. It's just a matter of what to construct as a natural landing place for them :thinking:

Should I just buy a large cheap house plant, construct something with broken branches, or secure a bit of wood to the railing and tart it up a bit with foliage?

Maybe I just need to get another hobby :D
 
Well firstly I would get one of the metal feeder stands, there are plenty out there. Also a sturdy metal base to fix it in would probably suit your balcony, once in place you can then just use the odd branch or two a foot or so away from the feeder.
 
I'll take a look at the stands, but thought they'd be deterred by the unnatural appearance :thinking:
 
new2me said:
I'll take a look at the stands, but thought they'd be by the unnatural appearance :thinking:
Click to expand...

Well they are not deterred by me, and things dont come more unnatural in appearance than that :D
 
after a small experiment using a chinese takeaway carton tied to the railing, filled with bird feed and a big branch propped against it, I can see that I will not acieve the results I want.

there was a robin helping himself this morning, but it's not a good angle and the sun (when it is out) only really hits the spot late afternoon.

oh well, back to the woods then
 
new2me said:
after a small experiment using a chinese takeaway carton tied to the railing, filled with bird feed and a big branch propped against it, I can see that I will not acieve the results I want.

there was a robin helping himself this morning, but it's not a good angle and the sun (when it is out) only really hits the spot late afternoon.

oh well, back to the woods then
Click to expand...

Patience is a Virgin M8 (y)
 
I might just give this a little longer ;)

I moved the branch in a better position and smeared some food on it and have had visits from a robin and one of his little blue/yellow friends. Both took me by surprise, but the robin did come back briefly a couple of times, but not without the window between us ... or the curtain





Who knows, i might get a good couple of pictures one day :D
 
I can't really comment on the quality of the second shot as I'm a complete newbie, but I would be very happy if I had taken it.
Perhaps you can get a potted plant/fern which could be used to hide the bread which is a little distracting.
 
If you have no problems with feeding live food, then buy some mealworms.

They look a little like slim maggots but if they pupate will not, fortunately, grow into bluebottles, just harmless beetles.

Robins and quite a few other birds will do almost anything and tolerate being very close to humans to get mealworms. We had a robin that would fly in the kitchen window to take mealworms and then fly out the back door. While my daughter was sitting outside she had a great tit land on her arm on the way to a pot of mealworms.

Dave
 
Thanks for the mealworm tip ... not too sure about the beetles though :puke:

The photo isn't for critique ;) and the setup was just testing how they'd react to being located close to an open door (not got a clear shot yet though). I'm constructing something a bit more natural looking and above the eyeline of surrounding houses ... no more bread :)
 
I now know that the right food will attract birds.
About 5 meters from our lounge window is a magnolia tree. I've been hanging 2 seed feeders and 2 fat ball feeders there for the past 2 years.
The sum total of daily bird sightings could be counted on 1 hand, the odd robin and great tits, so a friend advised me that the food I was using was rubbish.

The bird seed was some generic cheapo stuff from a local garden centre.
He advised that I get some black sunflower seeds and insect fat balls.

I spent this morning cleaning out the old feeders and then filled them with the sunflower seeds and fat balls.

Sitting here having lunch I've seen 4 greenfinches, several long-tailed tits, 2 gold finches and the usual great and blue tits.

Suddenly a large bird flew into the tree, a jay I thought just glancing at it. Suddenly I realised it was a massive sparrow hawk!

Now this winter I'll be able to do some serious photography "in the comfort of my own living room" as the adverts say!
 
I originally bought seed from B&Q, just cos it had a robin on the front :D
The neighbourhood seems a little quieter since getting some mealworms the other day, although a robin has popped up a handfull of time when I wasn't prepared ... and always when gloomy.



Once again, this was taken through the window and before i've finished my perch.
 
Both of these are straight from camera and are as good as I'm going to get, considering the lack of light falling my way these days and how skittish this bird (if it's always the same one) is.

Both are taken through a DG window ISO400 - f5.6/5.3 - 1/500sec and on a tripod.




 
new2me said:
Both of these are straight from camera and are as good as I'm going to get, considering the lack of light falling my way these days and how skittish this bird (if it's always the same one) is.

Both are taken through a DG window ISO400 - f5.6/5.3 - 1/500sec and on a tripod.




Click to expand...

and very good they are considering shot through dg(y)
 
For the 1st time I managed to rattle off more than one shot of my regular visitor without the double glazing between us. But as usual, it's a grey day so was set at ISO400 f5.6 and 1/320.

They could be better, but my first question is, as I am literally 2m from the perch, is my DOF too shallow? Higher shutter speed would help, but it's pretty gloomy

 
new2me said:
.........., it's a grey day so was set at ISO400 f5.6 and 1/320.

They could be better, but my first question is, as I am literally 2m from the perch, is my DOF too shallow? Higher shutter speed would help, but it's pretty gloomy....
Click to expand...

would have thought the DOF at f5.6 was adequate

as nothing appears in focus [old eyes here BTW] ..it could be camera shake even at 1/320

what focal length...?.... as i have DOF charts
what camera ..? may handle ISO800


see my feeding suggestions...''here''

store bought ''Wild Bird Food'' is usually rubbish
 
or secure a bit of wood to the railing

better inboard of the railing IMO...or your downstairs neighbor will soon be complaining about the white poo on 'his' balcony....:LOL:
 
haha! yeah, i thought that about the pooh!!

focal length is 300mm on a D200 - ISO above 400 is hopeless for this kind of shot on this camera

i do need to invest in a more sturdy tripod and am having to manual focus as this lens is slow in auto

As for Patience, she'd still a virgin :D
 
300mm is a prob at 3m

DOF on-line calculator ''here''

300m f5.6 3m [100''] to subject gives a DOF = 0.56''...........:thumbsdown:
even at f16 it's only 1.59''

can you move further back
example 200'' to subject gives DOF = 2.40...much better

also manual focus on the branch perch spot
and use a remote release so you dont shake the camera.?
 
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cheers John

I think i'll move the perch along the rail where I can get a little more space, catch some trees in the background and get slightly better light. I think the remote is a must from now.
Hopefully i'll catch a couple of tits that have popped down on my perch while I wasn't prepared too (y)
 
new2me said:
........ I think the remote is a must from now.
..:
Click to expand...

stating the obvious perhaps but a remote for the D200 means you can leave the setup and 'lurk' somewhere less noticeable
 
Just about given up for this session, a rare afternoon of sunshine falling my way, but cannot get the focus quite right

 
well to me 'nothing' is in focus

are you using the centre spot focus
sorry dont know D200

did you manually focus on the food..?

tripod/camera shake again..?......:thinking:
 
Cheers for your support John, but I think the combination of a rickety tripod (thanks Bristolian, but it's has suddenly fallen apart after relatively little use ;) ) the rubbish ISO of the D200 :thinking: and my lack of room to adjust, i have given up on this folly.

Drastically, i tried a couple of shot with the on board flash this morning, along with a prop ... even the robin was unimpressed :LOL:



Goodnight!
 
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