I was drinking coffee and was bored, so I was thinking about the below, it may help someone, you never know... 
For those that aren't wanting a "water feature", try and make a mound of dirt into a 'stage'. I used the dirt from the whole I dug for my water feature, but I had to also add some I bought from Lowes.
This has the perfect places to not just hide seeds from the view of your lens, but really good photo opportunities also. Like I mentioned earlier, you can plant what you feel is good for your area, plus add a few very small limbs, twigs, leaves, and some larger limbs to make a very nice stage. I transplanted wild clover that was already in my backyard, and also some grass that was grown from birdseed, that in the right places makes a nice area to shoot. This doesn't cost much at all either, and it's attractive, and if your wife (or you) likes to plant flowers, etc., it's a good place to do that.
I had planned to make a small waterfall at the top of the feature, but we have since changed that into just 'some rocks', and this year we will fix that area, it doesn't look good to me.
At Lowes, they have bags of small rocks, pebbles, and crushed granite that is really good to mix together to make things look a little more natural. The shots I show are in the beginning stages of the water feature and the 'mound', so it doesn't really show what it actually looks like. My wife is always moving stuff around, changing this, or that, so it always seems to be in a state of construction.
Another thing too, in all of our ponds, we allow the leaves to stay in there, it looks really natural that way, adds some needed color and textures. Of course we do clean it from time to time, but it doesn't look as good when it's spotless. We do the same on the "mound", we don't keep after it so it will eventually look as natural as anything out in the wild. Weeds grow, and we cull the ones we don't like, but leave anything that adds to the flavor.
If your are into macro photography, this is also a good place to shoot stuff, all kinds of insects are there, not bad ones, just fun ones to shoot. That's just another good thing about one of these features.
Another thing that can be done is to put some sand there for the birds to use as a dirt bath, they love that, I did that on the backside of the mound so it doesn't show so much. It's not unsightly, but it works out best that way.
Personally, I like my "stage" to look 'natural', but, my wife likes to add her stuff too, so we meet halfway. (That is free marital advice!)
Periodically, I like to change out the limbs so that all of my shots don't have the same 'props', I sometimes drag limbs from the woods when I have been out shooting songbirds, etc. My wife didn't really care for it at first, but when she saw what it can do for a shot, she understands, a little more anyway.
I've even used this feature as a backdrop for my Craigslist ads more than once, I've made some pretty nice looking ads that people seemed to be attracted too because it stood out from others.
Right now, being Winter, mine doesn't look that pretty by itself, but through the lens, the 'bad' doesn't look that way at all, most is taken care of by bokeh. (I like REALLY small DoF in most of my shots, I don't know why) When Spring comes, I'm sure my wife will plant more "stuff", which will make it look good again. Our droughts here in Texas have really messed with a lot, our yards show it, the plants, we've even lost established trees and bushes that have been here for years, even after deep watering. (They are forecasting another drought this year) So really, we haven't really wanted to invest time and money into some plants that may not make it, but would otherwise, had there not been a drought.
One thing we do is leave plants like Boston fern, etc., in plastic containers they come in, dig a hole, and it looks natural, but when Winter comes, we bring them inside. That's another reason my "stage" doesn't look good year round, but it saves buying certain plants that are not cold hardy.
I hope this helps some, I'm definitely not a professional, but we have played around with this stuff for a few years, and I learn the hard way. There is no telling how many plants that 'should have' lived, but didn't, and my wife knows her plants too, so I don't think that is the problem. The REALLY pretty red Japanese Maple that is in some shots (with the dove), that has died, but we left it so birds would perch in it, and it works. (See the Cardinal on the red branches) Those trees are not cheap at all, we've had 6 total, only 1 is left. Some last years, some only 1 season, but they are very nice to have when they live. heheh
So, you don't need the 'water' feature really, just something that can be used for your shots, and when you're not shooting, you still have a nice spot that is useful to look at, and feeds the birds. (I also put down seed there for the Cardinals and ground feeders)
That's what coffee does for me, it makes me ramble on incessantly for way too long! 
Randy
