Backyard Bird Photography

January 8, 2011

My parents got Carson a deluxe backyard birdfeeder a couple of years ago, and we’ve enjoyed watching the variety of species that it draws. Every so often, I set up my tripod and a really long remote shutter release cable I fashioned using a 50′ length of telephone cable and then sit back and snap pictures as the birds hit the feeder (I have grand plans to build an automated, motion-detection-driven shutter release at some point, but I’ve got to make my way through some electronics books before I’m ready to tackle that).

Today, with a fresh coat of snow and a freshly re-loaded feeder, we had a good mix of interesting birds hitting the feeder, so Carson and I set up the camera. He snapped all three of these pictures (and identified all three of the species — he’s much better at that that anyone else in the house).

Tufted Titmouse

Downy Woodpecker

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

A few months ago, I’d done the same setup with a thistle sock that we have elsewhere in the backyard and got this American Goldfinch — figured I might as well include that here, too:

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