Cardinal Desires

[Dixie]

Well, I've been wanting to get out and the leg is just about healed enough to let me go at it after the knee replacement surgery. Hope to get out to some wetlands by the end of next week.

In the meantime, I constructed a device to attract birds where I can shoot them from my backporch. I took a short pine log which had been dried out and drilled five woodpecker type holes in the sides and some small hole in the top to hold bird seed. Then I put it on a feeder pole in my backyard about 20 feet off the porch. I've hung a canvas with a hole it it for my lens so I can now sit in comfort and shoot.

So far there have been cardinals, goldfinches, downy woodpeckers, and chickadees on the "natural" feeder.

Here is what the setup looks like:

http://dixie.smugmug.com/photos/54969864-L.jpg


Here is the type of photo that I can get and I will be shooting more over the next few days.

Click on image below for EXIF data.

http://dixie.smugmug.com/photos/54969866-L.jpg (http://dixie.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=54970086)

I hope to get some really good shots of the downy woodpecker over the next few days.

[ginger_55]

Dixie, that is sooooo cool!

ginger (beautiful cardinal shot!)

[Tessa HD]

what a wonderful idea - and wonderful shots.

You brought back a memory for me. My grampa loved to watch the birds. and he had patience you wouldn't believe. He had feeders on a side porch and he'd sit out there all the time so the birds and critters would get used to him. You know, those birds started landing on his hands and critters would eat out of his hands. Someday I hope to try that, but I don't know if I have that gift.

Hope your leg healed well!

[Dixie]

Dixie, that is sooooo cool!

ginger (beautiful cardinal shot!)


Thanks, Ginger.

[Dixie]

what a wonderful idea - and wonderful shots.

You brought back a memory for me. My grampa loved to watch the birds. and he had patience you wouldn't believe. He had feeders on a side porch and he'd sit out there all the time so the birds and critters would get used to him. You know, those birds started landing on his hands and critters would eat out of his hands. Someday I hope to try that, but I don't know if I have that gift.

Hope your leg healed well!

Thank you, Tessa.

I have 9 feeders in my backyard including feeders for finches, hummingbirds, bluebirds, etc. ...plus now my "natural" tree feeder. I always hated the way the photos looked with the birds on the regular feeders.

[Steve Cavigliano]

Really nice shots Dixie :thumb :thumb and an ingenous birdfeeder to boot :clap

Hey, take it easy on that leg. Wetlands are tough enough to negotiate even on two good pins. Don't push yourself too hard :D

Steve

[ehughes]

Excellent Dixie... what a great idea..

[Phil U.]

Great idea - you should be able to catch some good ones. The cardinal is a great start!

[wxwax]

Dixie, I'm not much of a fan of bird shots, but this one is lovely. The things I like are the muted, even lighting, the colors and detail, the overall harmonious palette, the perfect focal depth and bokeh, the right amount of wood and wood texture allowed into the frame for context and story telling.

Very nice. :thumb

[Rohirrim]

Looks like a great set up Dixie. Lovely image of the Cardinal.

[Harryb]

Marvelous shot of that cardinal Dixie. :clap Good work on that natural feeder too.


I hope all goes well with your recovery.

[Dixie]

Thank you all for the kind comments and the "get well soon" wishes.

Sid, so far it has been the conditions. I've been shooting in very cloudy and rainy conditions. I've had to go to 400 ISO and wide open with some very slow shutter speeds (yes, I'm shooting from a tripod). I keep hoping that I will be able to shoot a little faster when I get a good day and also reduce the noise by getting down to at least 200 ISO and hopefully 100 ISO.

I purposefully setup up the feeder so I would have soft focus/OOF conditions for the background with trees and foliage providing the natural muting. Thanks again for the comments.