Scottes
8th of August 2004 (Sun), 17:11
A few people have asked me about SuperFeeder. Well, I told you it's nothing to look at...
This is viewed from my primary vantage point, the upper landing of my deck.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SuperFeeder1.jpg
This is actually Feeder System Number 5, aka SuperFeeder Number 2. The first feeders where simply aluminum poles - store-bought feeder poles. Then I put sticks on them. Then I tried a variety of pole and feeder placements, and tried some different sticks. I tried using different types of home-made squirrel guards but they beat me every time. My longest winning streak was 8 days to the best of my knowledge.
Well I finally decided that I wanted to group all the feeders on one pole, and I wanted superior sticks, and I wanted the feeders hanging from the sticks so the birds had to land on either sticks or feeders. This was the premise of SuperFeeder, and basically what you see above.
However, I used a wooden pole. Squirrels chew wood. It took three weeks, but yesterday I found the pole chewed in half. The top of SuperFeeder was on the ground and seed was everywhere - along with squirrels, chipmunks, mourning doves - you name it.
So up went SuperFeeder Number 2 which is what you see here. The pole is a piece of steel conduit from an electrical supply house. It has a one inch outdiameter, and cost me $12. I have seen aluminum ones for $8, but I figured that the steel would slow the squirrels a bit.
Also on SF2 is a brand new commercial anti-squirrel guard. It's steel, and tips when a squirrel hits it. It successfully guarded the feed for less than 12 hours. A modification will be made tomorrow. (Update: Raising the guard to the maximum height has proved 99.9% effective against squirrels. They still get up there, but not often.)
One note is in the use of my sticks. They're kinda thick - one's about 3/4" and the other slightly over 1". They're dark with thick grainy bark so they don't reflect more light than the birds. With smooth-barked sticks I was getting a lot of glare which often blew out before the bird. Also I found ones with only a few small branches, and broke off most of the ones closer to me so they wouldn't block my view. But the extra branches hanging off give multiple landing places to add variety, and sometimes add an extra bit of a natural look.
Ideally the sticks would have 3 branches each, all on the side opposite from your shooting location, and the stick should be angled so that those 3 branches angle up about 30 degrees. This means that nothing blocks your view no matter where the bird lands. The more twists and angle on the stick the better, since this adds variety to the shots. I don't really like the idea, but cut live sticks from trees. Old, dead, and ground-dwelling sticks look like old, dead sticks and soon lose the bark. Fresh-cut ones look much better.
This is SuperFeeder 2 viewed from the yard, showing the vantage points - the landings, stairs, and all 4 windows shown are used depending on sunlight and direction. And under the stairs, too.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SuperFeeder2.jpg
When on the upper landing, my favorite spot, I duck below the railing and rest the lens on the railing. When under the stairs I kinda hide behind the latticework. From the windows I close the curtains most of the way and just stick the lens out. So I get a decent blind from wherever I shoot.
Lately I've been shooting from the decks and stairs. There's a large lilac bush to the right of the deck which provides the birds' primary cover, so if I'm on the deck I'm not between them and the feeder. If not the lilac, birds come from behind me where some large pines are. From there they land before they even know I exist since the enclosed porch hides me.
The feeders are a little low so that shooting from the upper windows or deck gives me a nice grass background. From below (under the landing) I get nice sky backgrounds. The stairs can give me shots with trees in the background, but this is tough because bright patches between the trees often blow out. If I had shorter trees it would be nice.
The rightmost window is my morning shooting spot. I get the sun at about a 30- to 45-degree angle to the sticks so it's not bad. But there's nothing blocking the sun in the morning so I can get nice, low-angled sunlight hitting the contraption. The landing is a perfect shooting spot for late in the afternoon as the sun is almost directly behind me. Alas, more tall pines block the sun starting around 4:30 PM so the sun is still kinda high and the angle isn't so great. From about 10AM until 3PM I'm shooting into the sun so I rarely bother.
Now aren't you all glad you asked? And how about all you others that came along and thought you were going to see something exciting?
:D
However, if you care about getting good shots of feeder birds there's a lot of good tips in the above. I've learned a few things in 6 months of re-building feeder systems. :)
This is viewed from my primary vantage point, the upper landing of my deck.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SuperFeeder1.jpg
This is actually Feeder System Number 5, aka SuperFeeder Number 2. The first feeders where simply aluminum poles - store-bought feeder poles. Then I put sticks on them. Then I tried a variety of pole and feeder placements, and tried some different sticks. I tried using different types of home-made squirrel guards but they beat me every time. My longest winning streak was 8 days to the best of my knowledge.
Well I finally decided that I wanted to group all the feeders on one pole, and I wanted superior sticks, and I wanted the feeders hanging from the sticks so the birds had to land on either sticks or feeders. This was the premise of SuperFeeder, and basically what you see above.
However, I used a wooden pole. Squirrels chew wood. It took three weeks, but yesterday I found the pole chewed in half. The top of SuperFeeder was on the ground and seed was everywhere - along with squirrels, chipmunks, mourning doves - you name it.
So up went SuperFeeder Number 2 which is what you see here. The pole is a piece of steel conduit from an electrical supply house. It has a one inch outdiameter, and cost me $12. I have seen aluminum ones for $8, but I figured that the steel would slow the squirrels a bit.
Also on SF2 is a brand new commercial anti-squirrel guard. It's steel, and tips when a squirrel hits it. It successfully guarded the feed for less than 12 hours. A modification will be made tomorrow. (Update: Raising the guard to the maximum height has proved 99.9% effective against squirrels. They still get up there, but not often.)
One note is in the use of my sticks. They're kinda thick - one's about 3/4" and the other slightly over 1". They're dark with thick grainy bark so they don't reflect more light than the birds. With smooth-barked sticks I was getting a lot of glare which often blew out before the bird. Also I found ones with only a few small branches, and broke off most of the ones closer to me so they wouldn't block my view. But the extra branches hanging off give multiple landing places to add variety, and sometimes add an extra bit of a natural look.
Ideally the sticks would have 3 branches each, all on the side opposite from your shooting location, and the stick should be angled so that those 3 branches angle up about 30 degrees. This means that nothing blocks your view no matter where the bird lands. The more twists and angle on the stick the better, since this adds variety to the shots. I don't really like the idea, but cut live sticks from trees. Old, dead, and ground-dwelling sticks look like old, dead sticks and soon lose the bark. Fresh-cut ones look much better.
This is SuperFeeder 2 viewed from the yard, showing the vantage points - the landings, stairs, and all 4 windows shown are used depending on sunlight and direction. And under the stairs, too.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/SuperFeeder2.jpg
When on the upper landing, my favorite spot, I duck below the railing and rest the lens on the railing. When under the stairs I kinda hide behind the latticework. From the windows I close the curtains most of the way and just stick the lens out. So I get a decent blind from wherever I shoot.
Lately I've been shooting from the decks and stairs. There's a large lilac bush to the right of the deck which provides the birds' primary cover, so if I'm on the deck I'm not between them and the feeder. If not the lilac, birds come from behind me where some large pines are. From there they land before they even know I exist since the enclosed porch hides me.
The feeders are a little low so that shooting from the upper windows or deck gives me a nice grass background. From below (under the landing) I get nice sky backgrounds. The stairs can give me shots with trees in the background, but this is tough because bright patches between the trees often blow out. If I had shorter trees it would be nice.
The rightmost window is my morning shooting spot. I get the sun at about a 30- to 45-degree angle to the sticks so it's not bad. But there's nothing blocking the sun in the morning so I can get nice, low-angled sunlight hitting the contraption. The landing is a perfect shooting spot for late in the afternoon as the sun is almost directly behind me. Alas, more tall pines block the sun starting around 4:30 PM so the sun is still kinda high and the angle isn't so great. From about 10AM until 3PM I'm shooting into the sun so I rarely bother.
Now aren't you all glad you asked? And how about all you others that came along and thought you were going to see something exciting?
:D
However, if you care about getting good shots of feeder birds there's a lot of good tips in the above. I've learned a few things in 6 months of re-building feeder systems. :)