Backyard Bird Hide - Playing with Perches

Backyard Bird Hide – Playing with Perches

tony
May 10, 2020
birds / New Zealand / tips

photo showing a Silvereye perched on a twig with bright red berries — Silvereye perched on a Late Cotoneaster twig with bright red berries

The past couple of posts have explored controlling backgrounds in my backyard bird hide setup. Firstly by altering shooting position slightly and then by installing a backdrop. Today we move into the plane of focus and change the props on the stage.

Photo showing a Silvereye perched on a leaf with bright orange autumn tones — Silvereye with the bright orange autumn tones of Sumac

Autumn in New Zealand is one of the nicest seasons with plentiful colour, refreshing cooler weather and lovely low warm light after the harsh glare of summer. Our daily walks have expanded into perch hunting missions with frequent stops to audition likely candidates. I’m pretty sure the neighbours have determined that COVID-19 Cabin Fever has affected me mentally as I traipse home carrying a collection of random sticks! Living next to a forest there is an almost endless supply of options.

Photo showing a Silvereye on a lichen encrusted Redwood twig — Silvereye on a lichen encrusted Redwood twig

Autumn foliage and berries are very tempting but some simpler textural perches can create a different feel to the image. In this series I have kept the background the same and just installed different perches for the birds to stage on. All are just clipped in place with a spring clamp in a position that the birds will use to stage for the feeder. The perches can be adjusted in position if needed and on some I do a bit of judicious pruning to provide as specific landing zone to encourage the birds to where I would like them in the image.