Small Birds in Flight photo feeder

thingiverse

This is a basic garden bird feeder which has been designed to attract birds to approach it from one side only. Why? All described in the YouTube video produced by Wildlife Photographer, Mike Lane which was the inspiration for this project. https://youtu.be/nkp8VMNzbZQ To cut down Mike's explanation to a few sentences: by placing a perch 6 feet or so from this feeder, it is anticipated that small garden birds will land on the perch before flying directly to the feeder to take whatever has been placed in there - fat ball, seeds or similar. The design is such that birds should only be able to reach it from one side and that by focussing the camera a foot or so in front of the feeder on a point in the flight path between it and the perch, sharp and in focus small birds in flight shots should be possible. My design holds the bird food at a 10 degree angle from the upright so that less of it should fall to the floor. I have incorporated an encapsulated 1/4" UNC-20 nut at one end to take a length of threaded rod which can be screwed into a photo clamp such as the Manfrotto Super Clamp or similar. (The clamp in the photographs came from eBay in a set of 3 and described as "Phot-R 3x Magic Friction Arm Super Crab Clamp Articulating Pliers Clip 5cm Kit". The food container which I have used, started out as a carrier for chutney from our local Indian Takeaway. It is roughly 70mm diameter at its widest part and is sandwiched between two plastic pieces - the shelf and the clamp - held together by M3 nylon nuts and bolts.