Last Updated on December 9, 2021 by Kevin Agar

I’m sure everyone is getting a bit stir crazy with this lockdown as a result of the covid19 pandemic. We all need to try and find some normality with the situation, so I decided to try and improve my setup for photographing birds.

My normal procedure was to open the dining room window and try to photograph any birds that came to the feeders. There are a couple of small branches/twigs that I used but it wasn’t very satisfactory. One problem was the light was coming from the left in the morning and from the front in the afternoon. Despite this I did manage to get a few reasonable shots.

Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/400 s. f/5.6 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x

Starling, Sturnus vulgaris

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/640 s. f/5.6 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

No matter what perches you use, they still manage to land on the feeder hooks 🙁 Although every once in a while they would land on the branches/twigs.

Starling, Sturnus vulgaris

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/640 s. f/4.5 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

The background was reasonable at it was a few trees 20 meters behind the perches so nicely out of focus

At Christmas my wife bought me a mobile hide by Nitehawk so this was a good opportunity to try it out.

The mobile hide

VTR-L09 1/120 s. f/2.2 iso80

The perch area

VTR-L09 1/154 s. f/2.2 iso50

Again, there was a wooded area 20 meters away which gave a reasonably clean background to the images

I could change the perches fairly easily and have a few perches to make my images look less boring and give some variety. One problem I’ve noticed is if the perch has a good layer of moss on it then this dries quickly and drops off, or more often than not the Goldfinch will pull it off

Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/320 s. f/4 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

The perches also need changing to reduce the risks of spreading disease

The sun was behind me most of the day so the light was better that my previous setup, all I needed was for the birds to start using them

Up till now it’s been fairly successful and I’ve managed shots of Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Wood Pigeon but there’s still a lot more that I’ve seen in the garden or heard singing. These include Jay, Magpie, Rook, Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, Chiffchaff, Robin, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Wren, Blackcap, Coal Tit and the local Sparrowhawk

Here are a few of my efforts to date

Greenfinch, Chloris chloris

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/320 s. f/5.6 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/200 s. f/5.6 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula (male)

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/500 s. f/5.6 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Great Tit, Parus major

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/320 s. f/5.6 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Robin, Erithacus rubecula

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/400 s. f/5.6 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula (female)

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/400 s. f/5.6 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/400 s. f/5.6 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Wood Pigeon, Columba palumbus

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/320 s. f/5.6 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/160 s. f/5.6 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

It still needs a lot of work but it’s better than it used to be 🙂