Page 7 - Backyard Bird Photography: How to Attract Birds to Your Home and Create Beautiful Photographs

Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco

Scrub Jay at ground platform feeder

I usually use my ground feeders during the winter, when the resident Song Sparrow and
Spotted Towhee share the soil and the patio with the visiting Golden-crowned Sparrow,
Fox Sparrow, and Oregon Junco. While each of these species will fly up to the platform
feeder on the pole, they can be found more often than not foraging among the bushes. So

why not bring yourself down to their level in order to photograph them? This requires
sitting on my stool and hunching over for hours, but I get to interact with the birds in a
natural way, and from very close range.

When I place my ground platform feeder on my brick patio in Los Angeles, I utilize a
reddish, textured background for the photographs taken close to the ground, such as an
image I got of the Scrub Jay one day in February. This setup has also produced some
beautiful images of the California Quail. In one instance, I had hosed off the patio in order

to clean up the background, but the water had not dried up yet, so when the quail arrived,
there was still a glistening sheen on the bricks. In this image, the male California Quail
seems to be doing a pirouette as he crosses the path, while you can see the blurred body of
the female California Quail in the background at left.

For the American Goldfinch in Vermont, and the Lesser Goldfinch in Los Angeles, I use
a tube feeder that is specially designed to hold Nyjer seeds (a commercially grown thistle