Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. Today I want to show you one of my favorite birds that comes to our feeders.
We’ve had orioles in our yard every year since we’ve lived here (30 years!) but until recently we didn’t see them very regularly. May of 2018 was the first time we had one come to our hummingbird feeder. Charlie quickly made a orange feeder for them so they wouldn’t hog all the hummer food and they’ve been back every year. The above picture was taken in a different area of our yard near our suet feeder which the orioles like to use too.
You may have noticed that many of the bird pictures I’ve posted recently (here and here) have a similar looking background and the birds are often perched on the same stick so I thought I would let you in on my secret to getting the birds to pose on a particular stick.
When I first started, the weather was colder so I used my insulated camo jacket with camo gloves and a camo blanket I had to cover my tripod and disguise most of my body.
Now lets see what I was aiming at.
Charlie found a nice stick in our yard and fashioned a way to mount it on a pvc pipe that was secured in the ground. At first we shoved some suet into cracks in the stick to help attract the birds to land on it. Once they got used to it the birds would land on the stick before going to the suet feeder and also look for the suet on the stick. You can see some of the orange colored suet at the top of the stick in the picture above. That worked well but we didn’t like the way the orange suet stuck out in the pictures so we modified the stick.
Having the holes filled with suet allowed the birds to hang out on the stick more to give me plenty of opportunities to photograph them. This worked pretty well but my camouflage needed to be better and it would be too hot when the weather warmed up so I upgraded to a LensCoat Lightweight LensHide.
With my camera set to burst mode I would wait for someone to show up. In order to get the shot I was looking for I often would capture a series like this:
This set up has been working very well and allowed me to capture pictures of the birds in our yard like never before. We have plans on setting up another posing stick in our perennial garden near the bird bath and mealworm feeder.
In case you were wondering here is a look at the gear I’m using when I photograph the birds.

FujiFilm X-T4 with XF 100-400mm lens + 1.4x teleconverter
Manfrotto 502AH Pro Video Head
Manfroto 3011BN tripod
This is a very sturdy set up that comfortably holds the large lens and allows me freedom of movement to track the birds.
I hope you enjoyed seeing how I’ve been able to capture pictures of the birds in our yard. Just to let you know I often have to sit in this position for a couple of hours to be able to catch the birds at the feeder.
I’m joining the Wild Bird Wednesday blog hop. You should stop by and see some more birds.
I was not paid to endorse any of the products in this post and purchased all the equipment for myself. The links and descriptions were included in case anyone was interested in the items used.
Wow, how ingenius!! Love the way you get your lovely pictures.
I just stand in my dining room and shoot through the triple panes…with an ordinary P & S Canon…set on Zoom mode. Sometimes it works, sometimes not…occasionally I will securely hold my camera against the corner of the front porch and shoot towards the feeders. Then I don’t have the window to contend with, but its harder to capture the birds and critters because though I am shielded, they seem to be able to detect my presence with the noise of when I zoom in/out.
Lovely pictures indeed. Are they so shy that you have to be very well camouflaged? We have a variety of birds coming to our garden, but sometimes they come so close to us that we get startled. 😅
Warm regards.
Thank you for all of those details! Wow, that is a really long focal length! (did I just calculated 35mm equivalment of 840?) I love your set up 🙂 You’ve been getting exquisite bird photos recently!
wow that are wonderful photos and that is a super hobby… the mama would love it too, to watch berds, but she is miss impatient LOL
Those orioles shure are pretty!
Such wonderful photos are the reward for all your efforts. Thanks for the interesting explanation. So clever. And I had no idea about camouflage suits etc.
Cheers, Gail.
Love your camouflage outfit and now we know why you always get such fabulous photos of the birds! You really do look like a statue☺
We love your bird pictures. And you were very well camouflaged. Mom says she always sees the most birds when she is weeding. They get used to her down there and just go about their business after awhile, but when she is actually looking for birds they usually disappear on her. Except for the blue jay he came right up on the porch to eat Dog Food out of Tuiren’s bowl. With a mixture of human, cat and dog sitting on the porch.
Fenris has an appointment with the cardiologist June 9th, the Mom is rather worried they are doing curbside pickup so she won’t even get to go in with him.
Very clever way to get up close and personal with the birds. Your photos are amazing. I would give an arm and a leg for your photographic setup.
Hari OM
Cindy – can you see my ‘envy green’ camo??? My “Fudge” (Fujifilm) camera doesn’t do too badly, but am definitely short on lens power!!! I love your enticement for the birdies and the rewards are evident. YAM xx
That is some serious birding when you can blend in with all the nature.
Well done Charlie and what a very very nice camera.
Good idea on the upside down suet cage.
I think we must have Oriole here in NC but just not the right menu to intrigue them. I’ve never seen one in the feathers.
Hugs Cecilia
Wow!! What a great set up, I’m hoping once my hubby retires, we can shoot more nature. Your pictures are beautiful!
Wow! That looks like a lot of patience and hard work! But it’s worth it when you show the pictures! We’ve had a few orioles passing through this spring, but they didn’t stay long. About a week ago, we saw some little warblers too.
That is quite the plan. AND it works so well for you. Your photos are amazing. Thank you for sharing your secret and your work.
Woos, Lightning and Timber
Such wonderful photos, you’ve sure got this down to a science, good for you!
What a great…well…everything! Thanks for sharing, it was very interesting.
OMD, that is sooooo cool! Our burdies are more nonchalant, they fly right up to Ma when she’s watering the plants and stare at her like she’s the invader! BOL!
I looooooves all your burdie photos, and nows I see how much work goes into the FABulous shots!
Kisses,
Ruby ♥
Holy cow!! What an amazing setup you have rigged. No wonder your photos are always spectacular. Beautiful oriole images.
Charlee: “So … if we camouflage ourselves, we can sneak up on the birds and they won’t see us?”
Chaplin: “I’m ordering the camo fabric now!”
Tricks of the trade! We dont get garden birds in the same way as other parts of the world (shame) so a more mobile approach is often needed. Although this weeks WBW will contain pictures I took using my car as a hide (blind).
Cheers – Stewart M – Melbourne
Wonderful photos!