Went to Amsterdam  (Dam Square) today to try and draw a line with pigeons. Did feel like a fool, getting up at an un-godly hour and driving to Amsterdam with a sleepy girl and a big packet of pigeon feed, a pair of steps, a bucket, a funnel and a watering can in the back of the car. Weather was dicey – rain threatening all the time. I hoped the pigeons were up and about, and hungry! but wasn’t sure at all. The trick at these times is to not turn the car around and just keep going.

Arrived, unpacked, parked the car and set up the big girl on the Dam Monument using the steps for extra height. She filmed the experiment and did a good job, check here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ77wFLnYxc[/youtube]

To my relief, there were pigeons, and they were hungry. On a more sunny day there may be more, which would be good. Cloudy plus wet street makes for good pics, though. Birds did form a line  (being a bit superstitious I started out doing a line, not a circle). Reviewing the video material at home I really liked it; especially the bit where I start feeding and the random birds become organised birds. Another conclusion: I must be in the picture myself, too bad but it is necessary.

Things to remember:
1. pigeons eat in a crowd – they gobble up the line from beginning to end. Not bad –  time gobbeling up traces.
2. the Palace on the Dam had a tent-like erection in front, very ugly. Check on this when planning next action.
3. Buses and trams not a problem
4. Need a higer-up point of view.
5. Need a (much) better camera.
6. Need a tripod.
7. Need better video editing software.
8. Need to take more closeups of the birds.
9. Need to film  more ‘before’ time
10. Need to find a way to make the line of birdfeed much sharper.
11. I did two try-outs, and noticed that fewer and fewer birds came to the line, they probably go home when they have been fed?