Bird Photography Made Easy

By Jim Zuckerman

I have been amazed at the number of species of birds that continue to visit my feeder. Every time I see a new one, it’s an exciting event. The bird you see below is a blue grosbeak, and it’s perched on a branch that I positioned just above the feeder. Many of the birds use it for a momentary resting place before they jump down into the feeder itself. On my desk, right next to my computer, I have a door-mount support that accepts a tripod head. However, instead of a normal head I screwed in a King Cobra, from Mike Kirk Enterprises, and that holds my 500mm f/4 Canon lens. So that I can fill the frame with small birds, I also have a 1.4X teleconverter attached plus an extension tube that allows close focusing. I am shooting through a glass window, so I make sure it’s spotlessly clean.

When a bird alights on the branch, I simply stop working on the computer, turn to the camera and compose the shot. I don't even have to swivel the desk chair. I made sure that the background was distant foliage so it would remain nicely out of focus at any lens aperture I used.