This old guy has something growing on his face and appears to be missing a right foot.
I was outside with my three year old son just kicking a ball around earlier today and about 30 Cedar Waxwings decided they wanted my Privet bush/tree for lunch. I ran back inside for my camera only to find I had about 10 shots left on the card. 10 shots later I ran back inside for another card and luckily the birds were still hanging around. It took them about 15 minutes to strip pretty much every berry off of the privet. Pretty bird and I am amazed at how fast and agile they are. It is pretty cool to watch them hover and pick berries.
Posted by Gale Rainwater on February 20, 2010 at 6:39 PM
Wow Matt the other shots are beautiful. This is really a pretty spcecies. Great shots..
Posted by Mike Hall on February 20, 2010 at 8:48 PM
Very nice captures. They hang out over at my house too and don't seem to mind me walking around them. They seem tame. That old bird is in bad shape. Really sad. I'm glad you had a extra card. Well worth the effort. They will probably return to make that the bush is clean.
Posted by Daniel Loomis on February 20, 2010 at 8:57 PM
A grim and yet colorful reminder that life in the wild is not all candy and roses! Mother nature red in tooth and claw . . . so to speak.
This and the other images are very striking. Cedar Waxwings are a lovely birds with subtle colors. Sadly, the bg is a bit distracting with all those leaves just out of focus. Drat those birds who don't understand our need for clean backgrounds!
Posted by John Moore on February 21, 2010 at 10:47 AM
Good job on all of the shots, Matt. I've read descriptions of Cedar Waxwings that say they will pick berries and pass them to each other. Have you seen any behavior like that?
Yea Mike they let me get real close. Most of those shots are not cropped at all.
The background is pretty cluttered. I tried to tell the birds where to sit but they just wouldn't listen.
Posted by Bill Dark on February 21, 2010 at 2:35 PM
Too bad about his foot, but he seems to have adapted quite well. Beautifuls birds, these are.
Posted by Randy Wilson on February 23, 2010 at 4:52 PM
The old guy seems to have been through the wars, all right. I wonder whether that's a tick on his face. With only one good foot, he may be a little limited in what he can do in terms of picking off parasites with a foot, if that's something that's in a bird's behavioral repertoire.
For the most part I don't find the backgrounds of the other three shots so distracting, but I would suggest that in the first one you clone out the twigs that meet the bird's head, and that the other two should be cropped so that the bird isn't centered in the image (which would also take care of a lot of the clutter in those as well).
good idea Randy. I seem to center birds almost always for some reason. I hardly ever center anything else so I don't know why I do it.
Posted by drew resnik on February 24, 2010 at 10:29 AM
hey matt...sorry to go off topic. you and i had emailed a couple of times and i seem to have lost your email...could you please email me again at lakesidestudiophoto@gmail.com
thanks!!
Discussion
9 repliesI was outside with my three year old son just kicking a ball around earlier today and about 30 Cedar Waxwings decided they wanted my Privet bush/tree for lunch. I ran back inside for my camera only to find I had about 10 shots left on the card. 10 shots later I ran back inside for another card and luckily the birds were still hanging around. It took them about 15 minutes to strip pretty much every berry off of the privet. Pretty bird and I am amazed at how fast and agile they are. It is pretty cool to watch them hover and pick berries.
Here are a few of the better looking, less interesting birds.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4373281625_e35fbf422a_o.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4374005310_a01a650e61_o.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4374004940_e161fded51_o.jpg
This and the other images are very striking. Cedar Waxwings are a lovely birds with subtle colors. Sadly, the bg is a bit distracting with all those leaves just out of focus. Drat those birds who don't understand our need for clean backgrounds!
The background is pretty cluttered. I tried to tell the birds where to sit but they just wouldn't listen.
For the most part I don't find the backgrounds of the other three shots so distracting, but I would suggest that in the first one you clone out the twigs that meet the bird's head, and that the other two should be cropped so that the bird isn't centered in the image (which would also take care of a lot of the clutter in those as well).
thanks!!