Capturing that little bird in a photograph needs a powerful lens, a bit of luck and of course, a lot of patience. Here you'll find a few suggestions that might help you have more success in getting that perfect snapshot.

We have some great tips in this site where you can make your own feeders to attract birds to your bird feeding station. These work great but if you want to get a more natural-looking bird photograph, you probably don't want to have it perched on a feeder.

A simple solution you might want to try is to secure a few twigs near the food source. Be sure the background is appropriate. You don't want a fence post or someone's car there.

Now these visiting birds have a place to perch while they wait to feed or drink which is what these Bushtits are doing. All you need to do is get that camera ready. This is where the luck and patience come in!

As the year progresses and the seasons change you can change the twig.

Be sure to experiment with different angles and backgrounds. The results can be very rewarding.

If you're lucky, you'll find a wide variety of species will take advantage of the perch. Although usually very, very busy, hummingbirds like this Anna's Hummingbird do spend a lot of time resting. This one didn't want to go too far from the feeder and perched on the twig resulting in a very pleasing photograph.