I am always impressed by how nicely you organise your content and how clearly you present it. The video was very informative as your other videos and it was just a delight to watch. At a time when many RU-vidrs are about blowing themselves up and overselling a mediocre content, your humble attitude and useful content are refreshingly different. Thank you, Duade.
Thank you so much for sharing this video! I have always wondered how to make a staging area for the birds. I really enjoy your videos ad love listening to your presentations. Easy to follow and easy to understand your style of presentation. Thank you and keep up the quality videos.
As a senior (82) with limited mobility, my photography is confined to my back yard, winter and summer. Due to my living in Canada, (BC) it is wet and cold in winter. To overcome this I take pictures of birds through the open kitchen window, where I sit, watch and and have a cup of coffee. My set up that attracts as many as 18 different species of birds on a good day. I appreciate your tips very much and will try to emulate them as often as I can. Because my backyard is quite small, with a complete wall of trees and bushes I am working on Bokeh backgrounds. I admire the beautiful shots you have shown in this video.
I have actually tried this before (shepherd's bush in melbourne) but failed because it rained the night before. The birds didn't land there but they did get within 5 metres of me. Perhaps I will succeed next time :) Thanks for your tips! And unfortunately I can't join (kids don't get much pocket money these days) but will keep watching your content ^o^
Awesome! Next year I’m finally moving to a countryside house with space and a big garden, so I’ve been doing some research on how to build perches and bird feeders. I’ll save this for the future! Your videos are always smooth to watch and well structured, I guess you don’t have many subs yet because bird photography is a small niche, but the quality is very high. Congrats!
This is one of those ideas, "why didn't I think of that?". Easy, portable, and gets the background exactly how you would like it. Thanks, off to find the drill.
Great Stuff. This has given me 'food for thought'. As I have only a small back yard, I may try taking a bucket and bird bath etc with me and setting something up out in the field as another option.
I've just seen this video, 2 years old, but spot on, this summer I did exactly this trick, using a large branch I picked up when walking the dog, put it into an old plant pot near our birth bath, sitting in the garden hand holding the camera I got some great shots, also setting up the camera on a tripod then sitting in the sun room and firing the camera remotely worked, starlings and blackbirds bathing. Love it. We do all have 120 acre gardens unfortunately, in the UK that's called a county..... with 300k people living in it.
Hi Duade. Greetings from Turkey. I want to ask you a question. Do you think that set up should stay where they are for the birds get accustom to it? Because when i try something like your set up, no bird showed up though i waited more than 2 hours. Do you think is there any chance getting good images for the first time?
Tolga, good question, the birds really have to be in the area frequently and are either perching nearby or they are coming to water or food. It is unlikely they will land on it randomly unless they are a perching bird, and they naturally perch to scout for food or look around their territory. If you have a bird already landing on a branch or dead stick somewhere you can attach your perch to that and they will likely land on it. Good luck with it, Cheers, Duade
Just found your channel and joined, Mr. Paton. Great job on this video. These are neat techniques with setting up your bird studios. I plan to set one up tomorrow. :)
I used a 1x4 without relize after I saw the video again and my first shot was a cardinal on pine brach I now am going to fill with gravel with out gravel did not work Ithink it was the wieght of somthing that was to heavy thanks
I use a Christmas tree stand which has 4 bolts in it to clamp the post in place, instead of a bucket full of rocks, it is easier to move or change out. Also the four bolts screw in and out so it works for different size posts. I also like using real tree limbs for a post in case a woodpecker wants to visit it too.
Have you considered this great new invention called a tripod LOL Thanks for the tips but seriously a tripod is much more portable and with a small branch attached to the head it's very easy to tilt/rotate/raise and lower the perch
Thanks Terry, great suggestion and I agree tripods work very well. I didn't have a spare tripod to leave out on the property as I have a few up permanent around water baths. These buckets are very cheap so cost was the main factor. Cheers, Duade
Oh dear! 😹 There I was thinking you were the 'King of Stealth', with muscles like Schwarzenegger toting a mighty lens through 'the Bush' to bring us amazing photos! P.s., e.g. the Robin... 700mms, Strewth!
G'day Alex, sorry to disappoint 😀, I use a range of methods to obtain photos, I have done plenty of stalking and sliding around in the mud. The key is to be adaptable to a range of situations. Cheers, Duade 👍
Kingfishers are difficult, I think the only way is if you attach a perch to a perch it already lands on if that makes sense. Most Kingfisher shots you see under water etc use a fish tank that they put water and fish in and the Kingfisher learns to come to the fish tank. They put a perch over the fish tank. Pretty hard to do in the wild and most people who do this are usually on private land with small lakes. Cheers,Duade
G'day Kevin, depending on the focal length and size of bird I would say 8-10m most of the time with 700mm. But the closer you are the more detail, but birds may not visit if you are too close. Best to start further away and come closer bit by bit , Cheers, Duade 👍
Good stuff! I'm coming to this a couple years later, but this video has been an inspiration. I built a couple of the bucket perches and placed them on opposite sides of a birdbath, near some trees. (My wife suspected I had lost my mind, I think.) Some of my best images have been made with birds taking the "stair steps" down those perches to the water. Much better images. Backgrounds selected ahead of time and suitably blurred. And another benefit -- the trees near the perches have become a favorite staging ground for birds as they work their way toward the perches. Many, many birds now use the trees and I have made a lot of images of them there -- perhaps a dozen species that have never made their way to the perches, but have come close enough for good pictures. Thank you, Mr. Paton.
Thanks so much for the feedback Bill, that is great to hear. It is incredible how creating a ladder really does help and creates those opportunities. Have fun, Cheers, Duade 👍
Thanks Tony, yes including the habitat is important and is a good challenge to get right. I enjoy like all types of Bird Photography so I will take photos depending on what I want at the time. Cheers, Duade
Hey Duade, I saw your perch bucket in one of your previous videos and went out and bought the gear to make a couple of them up. They work beautifully, when the birds want to play of course. Thanks for finally making my buckets 'legit' and not 'borrowed' property. . . Bruce
Thanks Roberto, it is not for everyone, but it demonstrates a technique that many people use, and I hope this removes some of the mystery some people have. Cheers, Duade
This is wonderful... Hopefully you will get more birds to land on the perch in the future... About the red robin habitat shot - I am not sure if you had room, but maybe if you could move 2 steps to the right, you would have had a cleaner BG without that branch right behind the bird, I guess!
Gday Vineeth, thanks for your comment and great advice, I should have moved slightly to improve the composition. Also thank you very much for becoming a member, I really appreciate it. Cheers, Duade
So, I bought a Christmas tree stand before watching the video lol but this is an amazing setup!! I’m actually looking at a spot with Northern Bobwhite here in NC USA. I plan to use a larger log like perch for them to land on instead. I think since they are larger birds, they might look better on more of a thicker log or rock. But these perches you have here are excellent!! Great setup Duade, thanks sir!!
I have a bird feeder in my backyard but there are trees everywhere. Your backyard huge lol! I have the same female and male cardinals, one squirrel, one Robin, 1 pigeon, random finches, and some grackles that come to my feeder.
Where I live there is a huge population of birds! They fly too high in my tall trees so this video will be very helpful. I have bird feeders but I can see where a water bath and this type of set up will really help me get them on nice branches. I have gorgeous flowers and I can get great photos using your techniques! I am going to try that out tomorrow. I have lots of buckets and scrap lumber. I will get this going and have such fun! My zoom lens is just a 70mm to 300mm lens so this will really help me. Its been very hard to get these small birds up two stories in my trees! I still managed to get some cool ones but this will be so much better! Thank you for simple suggestions to help us take things up a notch. Where I live I can go walking but the birds stay up in taller trees!!! This will help them come down to a closer range. The best birds I have gotten so far are the Bald Eagles below my home, Spotted Towhees and Ravens...some little birds as well. I am so looking forward to using your techniques!
Terrific ideas, Duane. I'm fortunate to have a small urban backyard with some nice trees in close proximity to my house. With a couple of bird baths and feeding stations, I attract numerous birds throughout the year. And yes, the many of my bird photos are taken in that environment. Now it's time to confess: a good number of my photos are taken from inside the house - while laofing on my living room recliner. I make the supreme effort to keep the window spotlessly clean!
Yes, it is very specific to those species that will come down. I believe people use similar setup for woodpeckers using some sort of feed. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade I don't think it will appliy to every woodpecker species as well. I haven't seen the northern flicker at any feeders or even better, some woodpecker species will prefer burnt forest and never show at any feeders. I do go to parks or over bridges to see swallows or even just walking in the city where I can chimney swifts flying over my head.
I stay in a village, i always try to take in a natural way, if it comes in a nice perch, i always keep patience and i will give a bird to adjust me. Though I'm not good photographer.
Beautiful video , you seem to have great success with setting up perches, I will definitely try it and let you know. As always this video was very helpful 👍
Wonderful ideas Duade. I’ll try to set this up in my backyard one of these days. I need to find a hide though because there is no place in the backyard to hide.
Hi there, Duade! What a difference a season makes... this is the first video of yours I see with green background, full of flowers :-) When it comes to my preferences: I like horisontal photos best. And I do like photos of birds in their natural habitat, like yours Red-capped Robin in the Eucalyptus, but the reason might just be that those are the *only* photos I take. I saunter around, and when I see a bird I photograph it, willy-nilly. No dicipline or setups whatsoever ;-) When it is a special bird (when going on birding tours abroad) that's new to me, I take a photo whatever the distance. The results are, as you might guess, not exciting for anyone but myself. Sometimes the dratted bird is so far away anyone will have to take my word for what species it is, if it isn't of the nice category "Unmistakable". Once in a blue moon I get a nice shot, but not in yours or Jan's eyes, I suspect.
Thank you so much for your comment, what you say is so important and one of the keys in photography. That is take photos that bring "you" joy, not somebody else. Once I stopped taking photos for likes on social media my enjoyment greatly improved. I take many shots that I don't share with anyone as I just enjoy being out with my camera. Great to hear you love being outdoors with our wonderful birds. Cheers, Duade
Thank you, Duade for sharing your techniques. I tried setting up perches with an old tripod with some success. The great thing about using 2x4s is the stability that its width and weight provide. It also makes it easy to attach the branches to it with a zip tie. Can’t wait to try it soon. Love the background music by the way. More power to you. Cheers!
Excellent, love your videos. You spend so much time and effort breaking everything down for us and it's greatly appreciated. I am blessed with a ton of backyard birds but was tired of just getting pics of them on the feeders. My daughter has a 6 foot round garden in our yard and we have numerous staging trees, like you mention in the video. I have a friend I work with that had a few old, antique cedar fence posts so I put them up and it seems to be working quite well. I have it in the garden, between the trees and the feeders and find the birds often sit on the posts as their waiting for a turn at the feeders. I also put a little food in the fence post tops so they stay longer and focus on the food rather than me taking their pics, and you don't see the bird food in the pics which is perfect. Never thought of this idea though, may be something I consider as we do have a bird bath in another part of the garden..
Another great vid Duade! I definitely prefer taking the habitat type shots myself. They add some ecological context to my pictures plus I reckon it's more fun walking around in search of birds instead of hoping they come to my perch. Also if you're trying to cut down on plastic use, you could use short lengths of twisting wire instead of cable ties
Thanks Ryan, I do a bit of everything, I have the birdbath at the house with birds coming all day so makes sense to do a setup. I enjoy stalking birds and photographing shorebirds and waterbirds more, but the coast is a long way away. Thanks for the tip re wire, Cheers, Duade
Finally got my 100-400mm Panasonic Leica Lens with the Panasonic LUMIX g9 Yesterday and today i woke Up sick. But i'm so excited to finally do some bird photography that i Just can't wait. So i Just Set Up some branches and now i'm able to Photograph bird from my Windows 😂
Morning Duade, a great video which shows what can be achieved by constructing your own garden set up. I’ve been taking photos of garden birds in the UK on feeders but it’s not a good look. After all this time I’ve got a dose of covid which is pretty unpleasant. But this gives me something to look forward to doing after I’ve shaken the bugger off! As for equipment,I started a couple of years ago with a Canon 800D and a Tamron 150 to 600 mk 1. Once I’d got the bug I got a Canon 100 - 400 mk 2 lens with teleconverters. But the real game changer for me was buying the R6. I use it with the other lenses and a Canon RF 600 F11. Thank you for this video it’s given me a goal to achieve once I’m well.
It depends on the focal length I have and the size of the bird as I don't want to clip wings. Some birds are also pretty skittish and better to be further away but it ranges between 6-12m I would say. Cheers, Duade
Try using copper wire insted of cable ties You can reuse them and it can be easily adjusted if you want to move the branch a bit. Works best for me. Greetings from Germany
Hi Duade. Love your content. I have a question for you. I was using my 100-400 lens and was lying down to get eye level with some mallards, and after about 10 minutes of hand holding the lens, my forearm was out of commission for the rest of the day. What do you suggest I use to prop up the lens and save the arm? Thanks in advance!
I would highly recommend getting a ground pod and a gimbal, this works very well for shooting waterbirds. Its an old video but I reviewed it here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-by1WvMSmkEQ.html Cheers, Duade
I’m glad to see you got the habitat shot. My eye prefers those over the guidebook portraits. I also watched a more recent video in which you discuss both more in depth. Thank you.
Hi Duade, super insightful and amazing. I'm really learning alot from you. Thank you for your content. If I may ask, regarding perches, I've recently found a spot that has a resident kingfisher and I've managed to place a branch and it landed and hunted from it, which I was super thrilled about. Any idea if there's a way to put up some decor like moss? a few flowers or something to make it more attractive? How do I add it on without making it look unnatural? Any advice will be highly appreciated
Nehal, congrats on the Kingfisher landing on your perch, very exciting. It is tough to keep it natural looking. Ideally if you can find a natural perch that has lots of interest on it, perhaps it already has moss or something interesting. Perhaps find a shot online that you like and work from there. Or just try a few different perches etc and pick the photo which you prefer. Cheers, Duade
Hi Duade, I am enjoying your videos. Have you tried this technique when out in the bush? If so, would you need to spend a number of days in the one spot to get birds used to the changes.
Mark, I have used this or similar techniques. You will need to know where the birds are coming for water before setting it up. If you placed it in the bush with no way of attracting the birds it would likely not work. Birds seem to be very adaptable and if you use dry wood perches to start they should land on those almost immediately. Some birds don't like landing on branches that are too light or with flowers etc, it really is trial and error. Cheers, Duade
I like your videos. Nice and informative. Wanted to know about the shoes you used in this video. Are they dry use or wet use or both purpose. Also kindly make a video on safety measures to be taken while photographing in and near water or unknown grassy areas. Thank you
G'day Houde, they are called Muck Boots and are dual purpose, they are a bit expensive, but they are the most comfortable gumboots I have ever owned. Regarding grassy unknown areas, I just have to be always looking out for snakes and where I place my feet. It is another reason I wear the gumboots as they will offer a bit of protection from snakes. I don't have crocodiles where I am so not too much to worry about around water, just leeches and tics are the main concern. Cheers, Duade
Awesome video!! Duade thank you sooo MUCH for showing how you simply make a portable perching system!! So you take these off your B property into the forests/state park/ etc....? This is my plan for warblers this spring ! Thanks man awesome content
