So, I finally got my "prop" in place for more realistic bird photography. It's kinda a hack job but it works pretty well. I saw this technique on the BBC Wildlife Magazine YouTube channel - specifically Episode 7 of the series hosted by Mark Carwardine (an excellent series). While my setup isn't as nice as his, it still serves it's purpose. Here's one of the pictures I got from using it:
This is a great shot of a Chipping Sparrow posing just right.
Here's a picture of the actual perch in all of it's glory:
It just goes to show that movie (or photography) magic can be attained without a huge budget.
Excluding the rigged branch, you'll be able to find several great bird pictures from the Backyard Birds project (once it's done).
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