Proof of the Pudding

I sat out in my blind yesterday after watching a hairy woodpecker feeding early on, It took a couple of hours but eventually the hairy woody dropped down and started to feed, They are very small and i wish that i had taken my 1.4x there with me so had to crop a bit to get the best composition, Shortly after the hairy left i could hear the red bellied in the woodland, It didnt take long to see it and although skittish it landed on the perch and had a good feed, The D7000 and 600 was perfect for this larger woodpecker, I was still using the old perch so had to clone some bits in and out to make a decent looking image, I did cut a new perch yesterday morning out its not drilled yet and i have also found some vines in the woodland that i will cut and wrap around it to add to the image, I normally look for dropped branches for my perches but we have a couple of young trees that have bent over due to strangling by vines when they were younger and they are an eye-saw so i cut them down and will reuse then for future projects,

The weather yesterday was perfect, Overcast but quite bright, I had to use ISO 800 to get 1/125 but with careful setting up you can get sharp images, Once the light dropped to 1/60 i packed up,The background is the far end of the garden which is a couple of hundred feet away and at F8 becomes nicely diffused

Dave

Making a Woodpecker Perch

The woodpecker perch in my garden is now a big hit, Just watching today for an hour we had Carolina Wren, Hairy and Red Bellied woodpeckers all feeding on it, We also had 2 flickers in a close by tree which was nice to see, The perch is very dried out and tired so its time to make a new one, Problem is that my paddle bit has gone missing so a trip to the store is needed, i will run through how i go about making one, Firstly i need a branch around 2-3'' in diameter and around 4 feet long, The width is good for most woodpeckers, I dont want a big thick branch as it will make the tint hairy woodpeckers look out of place, The 4 feet length is a good height as sometimes other birds will land on top and you can get an eye level shot without the 'looking up' at the bird shot, I find one of the best places to look for a perch is either near a lake or a dark damp forest where there is a good chance of finding a good looking mossy branch, Unfortunately here in NC its normally very hot and dry and if you are lucky enough to find a nice mossy perch it will be dry and dead in a few days, Once you have your perch you need to drill 3 or 4 holes around 20mm or 3/4'' down one side in a line about 6-8'' apart, Look at the perch first to find the nicest looking side as this will be the front, Drill 90 degrees to the front, You can drill both sides if you want, Have an idea of the time of day you will shoot and the suns direction so that the perch does not cause heavy shadows when you shoot, Once you have drilled the holes you need to place the perch infront of the hide/blind, I either bang a wooden peg into the ground and then screw and tie warp the perch to it or if you want to be abit more mobile use a Xmas tree stand which work really well, Once the perch is in place get a fat block and dig a piece of fat out with a small spoon, Hold the spoon up to the hole and with your thumb push the fat into the hole, Pack the hole out with fat and push it in tight so that the fat is concave and no fat will be poking out and getting into the shot, Clean around the holes with your thumb and you are good to go, If there is some food in the shot or you can see part of the hole you can clone that section out in processing
Here is my old perch, 4 feet high and 2'' wide, Hold up by tie wraps and screwed at the base to a wooden peg


20mm or 3/4'' Holes down 1 side
Use fat from a fat block available at supermarkets and pet stores
Using a small spoon, Scoop some fat out and place the spoon at the hole and push the fat into the hole, Get as much fat in as possible by compacting the fat with your thumb
The hole will look like this when its finished, Clean any fat that's outside the hole with the spoon or your thumb
Check the perch every morning for signs of use, Once the fat is found and they start to eat make sure that its 'topped' up as soon as its empty which will be 2-3 times a day, Consistency is the key, If the birds come and there isnt any food they will soon stop,
To make the perch extra photogenic wrap some ivy or climbing plant around the perch fixing at the back with a staple, Use something that's in keeping and not too big as it will look odd with a small woodpecker, Be careful when wrapping the ivy around as to not get in the way of the holes or when shooting will not get in the way of the birds face

Dave

Woodpeckers

We have been in the new house for a month and so far the bird scene in the garden has been slow, We have a family of chickadees, A couple of Tufted Titmice and the odd Cardinal along with a lot of crows, Nothing to write home about and i hope that more will arrive as time and winter comes, I have 3 seed/nut feeders out as well as a fat block, I said to my wife that i was disappointed that we have not had any woodpeckers, The fat block being totally untouched, I dug out my old woodpecker branch that i successfully used last year and put it in the garden, I put some fat in the predrilled holes and 3 hours later there was a hairy woodpecker feeding on it, I could not believe it, It came and went all afternoon and i sat out for a couple of hours trying to get it, I had a red bellied woodpecker come and check it out a couple of times, So it shows that its not the food but how it is presented that matters, The woodies have continued to come over the last couple of days as when i check the holes that are totally empty, What with Thanksgiving yesterday and Black Friday today i havent had the cameras out but that will change tomorrow, Here are a couple of images taken last year using the woodpecker branch and in my next blog i will show you how to make one




Dave