I wanted to make a photography blind that didn’t cost a fortune. Originally I was going to make it out of PVC and fabric. One afternoon I saw my kid’s old plastic playhouse and I thought, “I can use this and it’s free”!
I selected a spot near the back fence…

I bought a $2.99 shower liner from Target to cover the top and part of the window…

Using an old towel and two heavy-duty clamps from the local hardware store, I fastened the towel and shower liner together creating the blind…

Add my Manfrotto 3011BN tripod, 488 ballhead to attach my 300mm f/4L IS and 1.4x II extender…

Its a little cramped, but it does the job! I added my cushion from my wheelchair for comfort…

Here’s the business end. You can see my DIY bird bath, feeder (stump) and stick…

Within 5 minutes I had visitor. This was the first time that I was able to photograph a Lesser Goldfinch, so I was pretty happy with the results. Took less then 5 minutes and about $10!

Here’s a male House Finch…

An Dark-eyed Junco AKA ‘Oregon’…

A White-crowned Sparrow

I hope I’ve given you some ideas to build your own backyard blind!
UPDATE: A photo of my improved set-up.




I post all of my new nature pictures, random thoughts, and even my family pictures here. Some of those pictures never get posted to my
My goodness, Mike. These are so – PERFECT. I mean, it’s like you talked them into sitting for you and posing. Such beautiful work, please keep it up!
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Mike. Looks pretty good. Pretty inexpensive too. Love yur photos, keep sharing them with us. CUL Lou
Mike I love that setup! I’ve never seen anyone implement it like that! It’s truly awesome for capturing birds.