Jack Douglas said:
Trick shot of the day. Still having trouble getting new models. What should I offer them?
6D 300 F2.8 1000th F 8 ISO 640
Working on some new props tonight.
Jack
Black Oil Sunflower Seed. Its like catnip for birds (well, most songbirds, lot of woodpeckers, and a variety of other "backyard" species.)
The sunflower seed is the initial attractant. It has a very clear smell, which can sit on the wind for miles. After that, you want red and white millet, nyjer, safflower, peanuts, and berries.
Keeping suet in some cages near or on your perches, especially suet with lots of nuts, will help attract woodpeckers. (Best to actually drill some holes in that main log of your setup, and fill them with suet...woodpeckers LOVE that, and they will perch perfectly and naturally while they guzzle it down.)
Nyjer seed is great for finches...house finch, purple finch, goldfinch, etc. You can even get a variety of dried thistles, fill the back side of them with Nyjer to attract finches right to them, and get some great shots.
Safflower is like Chickadee candy. They LOVE Nyjer, and will usually snatch a kernel, then peck at it while clinging to a small branch. The sit still for quite a while, and frequently poke their heads up for ideal shots. Juncos love safflower as well, however Juncos are ground feeders. You will probably want a platform feeder with a cover and a small hole underneath your setup (preferably some local bush and tree branches clipped or strapped to some tripods), so that the birds will have a place to "queue up" on sightly perches while they wait their turn at the seed on the tray.
Chickadees will eat peanuts, or at least peck away parts of peanuts. Peanuts, especially whole peanuts in their shells are especially loved by the jays. Blue, Scrub, and Stellar's Jays just LOVE whole peanuts, and will grab them, then fly off and hide them for later. Jays also like whole corn kernels, and will even eat them right off dried corn on the cob if it is easy to get at. Juncos seem to have a particular fondness for cracked corn pieces as well.
Fruit and berries are great attractants for things like waxwings, oreols, etc. Oranges are great for oreols, they will peck away at whole slices even. Waxwings like berries on the bush, small crab apples in the tree. I don't get any of them in my yard, as they are more of a northern resident (they are boreal birds, so they spend the vast majority of their time in the north.) Waxwings will guzzle down berries buy tossing them into the air and catching them in their throats, so if you actually have bushes that grow berries (or small crab apple trees) they like in your yard, that is most ideal. Cedar Waxwings are particularly fond of Redcedar (juniper) berries.
Some birds like bluebirds and in some cases chickadees and tits are very fond of grubs. Sometimes they will happily eat freezdried mealworms, however most of the time they prefer the live thing.
I don't know what other birds you may have in your area. Best to pick up a bird guide and do some research, figure out what kinds of birds are around and what they eat.
I'll place the order with my wife right away.
