Hey there! I'm having trouble making a paper shadow puppet bird fly. Dangling it from a thread makes it spin in un-bird-like ways. Weighting it makes it drop fast and move very un-bird-like. I'd rather not use a visible rod. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance! ~Heidi

You need more then one suspension point.  Think triangle, three point.  That should give you more control.  Would need to see the shape you are working with to give you better details.

You know you can also extend the rod off the back of the cut out instead of down.  A soft spring wire can work for this. Keeps the shadow of the rod from showing on the screen as bad.

Thanks so much Shawn, for taking the time to advise an amateur! I just tried out the wire idea, and that's working well- just have to practice for more control. It will be tricky, as the bird has to fly down from a tree on one side, then fly back up to a tree on the other side, and being the sole puppeteer, that means I'll have to hide the wire coming down behind a tree trunk, de-tatch it, float the bird, and then re-attach the wire to a different tree trunk. I may just give up on that idea, and have the bird enter and fly off without staying in perching in a tree before or after.
I don't understand the 3 points of suspension idea- maybe the bird is suspended from two different points, with another thread taped to it's back to move it? Thanks again for taking the time to advise! ~Heidi PS you can see a picture of the front side of the screen in the Fiddler in the Forest shadow puppet show description.