The Perch

Black-capped Chickadee on pine branch

I seem to be on an endless hunt for new perches for photographing birds at my backyard set-up. Fortunately, there are several woodlots I can easily access and during storms I tend to have lots of small dead branches fall from the Ash trees on my property. When selecting the perch I tend to avoid a plain old looking stick unless it has some interesting shape to it or other features that may prove interesting. Most often I am looking for small branches that are not much more than the thickness of a pencil. Perches with lichens, moss or small pinecones tend to work very nicely for the species I get at my feeder set-up, but I have also had luck with rose hips, mullien seed heads and even dried burdock, that are readily available along the side of the roads around my home. Occasionally larger moss covered stumps will work well, especially if they have a hollowed out area to fill with various feed, depending on the species, in your area, that you wish to attract. This year it seems like the most frequent visitors to my feeders are Chickadees and Tree Sparrows, however, the Red-bellied Woodpecker continues to arrive daily and I have been lucky with additional photos of it that I will post in the future. Here is a small assortment of additional songbirds from my backyard set-up with various perches.

Black-capped Chickadee on moss covered perch

Black-capped Chickadee on small pine branch

American Tree Sparrow on snowy, moss covered stump

Black-capped Chickadee on small pine branch