DIY Iconic Squirrel Portrait

If you already have squirrels raiding your bird feeders your well on you're way to easily creating an iconic squirrel portrait. The three basic ingredients needed are. A feeder, a branch, some wood screws and a battery powered screw driver or drill. Most important some sort of blind or hide. Photographing from behind a dark blanket or sheet from a window in your house will work just as well if you don't have a photoblind or other makeshift hide.


The first step is to find a suitable section of branch to photograph your squirrel on. I found a piece of branch that had been broken off by the wind outside of my church one morning. Look for an interesting piece that is one to three feet long with an interesting grain or bark pattern or moss on it. It should be one and a half to three inches in diameter. This will be big enough to hide your makeshift feeders on the back side of it. If you live in the city check with the surrounding neighbors or tree trimmers working in your area for possible pieces of branches.

The second step is to screw the branch onto a piece of scrap wood. Most any piece will do just as it is big enough to support your piece of branch.


The third step is to screw some makeshift feeders onto the back side of the branch. This may take a few tries to figure out how to keep them out of sight. You can use bottle caps or in my case I used a few salsa containers from my lunch at a mexican restaurant one day. Just use anything small that can be attached to the backside of the branch out of sight.



The fourth thing to do is to attach the whole set up to your bird feeder. I have a platform feeder so I just grabbed a few more wood screws and attached it to the side of my feeder. Other possibilities are to clamp it with a "C" clamp. Tie it on with rope or wire. Be creative and figure out a way to attach it to your bird feeder.

The last and final step is to put peanuts or black sunflower seeds into the little feeders and wait. I place my feeder about six to eight feet away from my photo blind with dark trees as a background. I like a dark background so that my subject stands out. What kind of background do you have? A fence or a hedge can work well. Some background that is darker than your subject and is far enough away to be out of focus is a big help.



Now begins the waiting game. Prefocus your camera on the branch and wait. Check to make sure that no parts of the feeders are showing. Maybe photograph the birds that are feeding on your new feeder as well. Don't make a lot of movement or noise and your patience will be rewarded.



Good luck and God bless,

chris

DIY Knothole Feeder

Have you ever seen those cool pictures of birds and squirrels poking there heads out of knotholes in trees? The photographer must have spent days following birds around trying to find their nests. Well I actually have done that and gotten some neat shots of birds bringing in food to their young. But what do you do about the times when its not nesting season? Well one day when I was getting some wood from the wood pile I came up with a great idea. I picked up a piece of firewood that had a knothole in it and the bark came right off of the wood with the knothole in it. I got to thinking... Some of you out there are already ahead of me here. Why not add a feeder to the backside of the bark? After a number of tries of using wood, wire and string I finally settled upon using some wood screws, a coffee can and some Plaster of Paris. Basically its a simple messy process. Put the can on a stick. Spray paint the inside of the can black. Put the can opening on the back of the piece of bark centered over the knothole. After that you drill a circle of wood screws into the bark around the can. Be carefull here not to go through the bark with the wood screws. Next you mix up a batch of Plaster of Paris and build up a wedge or ramp around the can onto the bark. Making sure to cover the wood screws to hold it all together. Let it set for a couple of hours and your done. All you need to do now is find a convenient fence or pole to mount your feeder on. It is best to place it near other feeders to help critters discover the feed that you put inside of it. Be sure to take into consideration what kind of light you want to fall on it. It also helps with birds to place feeders of any kind near bushes for cover. They are a lot more comfortable feeding in places they know they can dive off into safety if a predator comes near like some photog with a giant lens of some kind. As usual I have attached some directions and some samples of what can be accomplished using this type of cool cheapo feeder.

God's light and love to all,

Chris