THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 39 
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH 
Winter Birds Around a Feeding Station 
By FRANK BELLROSE, JR. 
Photographs by the Author 
For the past two years I have had much enjoyment feeding and 
photographing some of the winter birds. At first my equipment consisted 
of merely several suet holders and an open-sided bird house. Later I added 
a feeding shelf which was placed between two windowsills on the house. 
Everything could readily be seen from my window. 
At first the photography was very unsuccessful, this due, for the most 
part to the limitations of my camera—a vest pocket type with a single lens. 
Ideal circumstances were always necessary for a good picture from this 
camera. Later, however, I obtained a better camera, and, consequently, 
some very satisfactory pictures. 
I used no special method other than setting the camera on a tripod 
several feet away from the desired point, and running a thread from the 
shutter, across the lawn, through the window, and into the house. Here 
I could pull up a comfortable chair and spend the time reading, while 
waiting for the visitors to appear. If I wanted a picture of a bird at.the 
window shelf, the matter was as simple as taking any ordinary snapshot. 
“Early in fall I put the suet in place, and a few days later my first 
customer came—a Downy Woodpecker. Others followed, the Chickadees, 
Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, and once a Hairy Woodpecker. How- 
ever, they came at such irregular intervals that | delayed my photographing 
until mid-winter, when the birds, hard pressed by the snow and cold, would 
come more often. 
