OUTDOOR SOUTHWEST - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

HOW JO TAKE
GOOD PICTURES
OF BIRDS
By J. FRED and FRAN DODSON
30 / Desert Magazine / October, 1961
I HEN WE WENT to spend our first
winter on the desert, we were eagerly
looking forward to enjoying the mild
climate, flaming sunsets and exotic
flowers. An added attraction we did not
anticipate has been the birds. Only a pair
of friendly Cactus Wrens and a Curvedbill
Thrasher were there to greet us, but
when feed and water were made available,
the news quickly spread, and each day
brought new boarders.
By spring we could sit in the open yard
but 25 feet from where dozens of Desert
and White-Crowned Sparrows, Finches,
three kinds of Doves and many other bird
neighbors would feed on scattered grain.
Cardinals would fly in for sunflower seeds,
while Flickers and Gila Woodpeckers
searched for hidden nutmeats and suet. And
it was gratifying to see the Gambel's Quail
come with their broods of tiny young, and
feel safe in our presence.
All this was very pleasing to the eye, but
in a photograph the birds appeared as mere
specks. We decided to try some close-up
shots that would show more distinctly the
markings and feather detail of the individual
bird visitor.
An important tool for this kind of work
is a remote control mechanism so the camera
can be placed close to the subject and
operated from a distance. Tripping the
shutter with a string or pneumatic cable
release is too slow for birds. An electric
tripper or solenoid connected to the camera
shutter dees the job. One end of a double
wire is connected to the solenoid; at the
other end is the battery and switch. When
the switch is operated, the circuit is closed,
the solenoid operates the shutter, and the
exposure is made.
For the press or view camera, the purchase
and installation of a solenoid is a
simple matter; but for most other types of
cameras, including the popular 3 5 mm. size,
your favorite camera store will be of little
help in supplying an automatic tripper, and
you will have to depend on your own ingenuity
or that of a technical - minded
friend. We made a tripper for our 1000F
Hasselblad camera, using a heavy solenoid
and some scrap parts, including a part taken
from the mechanism of a window lock.
Works fine.
Two 50-foot lengths of two-wire extension
cord are used so that two cameras can
be set up at the same time, if desired. We