I had several surprises in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning.
First I’ll have to set the stage for the one involving Cedar Waxwings.
I believe this is the male (based on behavior only, I could be wrong) of the mated pair I photographed some weeks ago as they were building their nest in a Hawthorn tree. He’s perched on a snag close to the nest tree – the nest is deeply buried in the Hawthorn below and behind him. The youngsters have hatched but are still naked or nearly so. It was a warm morning and another waxwing I suspect was his mate perched close to him some of the time – she probably had left the nest for a brief respite as she often does. I couldn’t see what was going on with the presumed female because even though she was sometimes in plain sight I couldn’t see her most of the time while I had my lens on the male.
Everything was calm up to this point.
- Note: I’ve cropped this image a little strangely to include what I’ll call the looped twig at bottom as a “landmark” for further reference.
But when the male looked down and behind him toward the nest (which I’m sure he couldn’t actually see through all the leaves) he apparently saw something down there that instantly changed everything.
He twisted quickly on the perch and took off in the direction of the nest but at first he didn’t go far at all.
In this next shot it might (or might not) look like he’s landing on the looped twig but instead…
he dropped down a few inches further and landed here (the looped twig is now at upper right). And he wasn’t a happy bird about something that was going on near the nest. I presume the source of his excitement was another bird, possibly another waxwing, too close to the nest. He severely scolded whatever it was down there and at one point…
he very nearly took off in that direction but at the last millisecond he changed his mind…
and stayed on the perch as he continued to scold.
But when the waxwing eventually took off in apparent pursuit of the threat I surmise from the direction of his gaze and his direction of takeoff that the potential threat had also taken off and his intent was to chase it.
In the last shot I got of the male he was apparently still a very ‘angry” bird. I don’t know what happened after this and I never did see the actual threat, assuming there was one.
I made several assumptions in telling this story but based on what I observed and photographed this seems to be the most logical explanation.
A little further down the road I photographed this beautiful butterfly on Musk Thistle. While I lived on the Montana farm where I was raised we used to call this plant Canadian Thistle, among other less benign names because once it gets into your crops it’s very difficult to eradicate. I believe the butterfly might be a Great Spangled Fritillary but I can’t be sure.
When I first approached the butterfly it was perched on a higher flower that didn’t have bright stems behind it but I had the limiter set wrong on my lens so I couldn’t focus on it. By the time I changed the setting it had moved down to this flower.
But the first surprise I photographed yesterday morning was this far-away Peregrine Falcon on a cliff high above me (this image has been cropped severely). The first few photos I took of it caught it rousing.
I very rarely see Peregrines in the mountains so this one caught me by surprise and I was delighted to see it up there.
But the swallows were much less enthusiastic about its presence. This tiny bird was screaming at the much larger falcon.
All in all it was a good morning in the mountains.
Ron
Note: Due to technical issues I haven’t included image techs and this post may be a little rough around the edges because I didn’t have time to fine tune it as well as I usually do.
Loved all of the photos. Good day indeed!
Ron, I love the angry eye in the third image. Never really saw that before, especially with Waxwings. Excellent.
That bird had malice on its mind, that’s for sure. Thanks, Judy.
That waxwing looks ‘so beautiful when angry’ – a phrases which has always peeved me to the max.
Hooray for another wonderful day out and rather a lot of treats. For you, and for us.
It took me over two hours to get here this morning, and I am so glad I perservered.
I noticed you were a little “late”, EC. More computer problems I presume.
I think I used that phrase once on my wife at the time, decades ago. Never used it again…
Yup. The usual computer issues. Which are getting very old indeed.
Good photos of everything, and your presentation is wonderful. Some days you have everything and others not so much. Love everything you write and post.
Thanks very much, Trudy.
Great shots! Glad you were able to get out there and even up into the mountains. The Waxwing is so pretty — I keep thinking those markings are airbrushed every time I see one of these guys. I especially like the very last shot with the Falcon and the Swallow — I’m getting some sort of optical illusion that’s telling me the birds are close to the same size. So weird!
You’re right, Marty. They do look airbrushed – because they’re so very “smooth” for lack of a better word.
Nice photo series, good to see you out again. I am still adjusting to time and temperature changes. Maybe I’ll get out Sunday. How has BRMBR been?
I don’t know, April. I haven’t been to Bear River in a long time.
Eye Candy all the way around! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Don’t know that I’ve ever seen a waxwing that excited about something – he was certainly “talking” to whatever it was as was the swallow with the falcon. Amazing what the small birds will take one and you certainly captured it well……:) The butterfly on the thistle is beautiful tho “thistle” is a dirty word around here! 🙁 Like you don’t know that……;) VERY productive day for you even if not necessarily what you had in mind…
Judy, It’s strange that I can’t actually hear waxwings, even when others can hear them clearly. And I have good hearing. Regular commenter April Olson says the same thing about her husband – he can’t hear them when April can. Can’t explain it…
I made my “scolding” comment based on what I saw rather than what I heard, which was absolutely nothing.
what an awesome group of amazing shots. thanks for sharing. look forward to your emails.
Thank you, Linda.
If a bird could have facial expressions that Cedar Waxwing would win for its intimidating looks. Was it windy while you were shooting the Peregrine? It looks a bit bedraggled. Nice capture of the butterfly.
Nope, no wind to speak of, Lyle. The falcon looked like it did because it had just finished rousing.
Nice series…especially enjoyed waxwing and butterfly on thistle…we have thistle like that in Maine…pretty and butterflies and Goldfinches love it, but I sure don’t! Seems impossible to control….if you ever decide to replay an oldie, please consider the wild horses…LOVED THAT SERIES!!!
Besides, once you’ve seen one bird , you’ve seen them all…beak, wings, feathers , tail…just different colors……..
Thanks, Patty. “Impossible to control” is right. When a patch of that stuff gets established in your field they’re almost impossible to get rid of. Farmers in my area hated them.
Very interesting post. The behavior of the Cedar Waxwing is quite intriguing. And seeing a Peregrine Falcon was very special. Your butterfly picture drove me to my field guide, and I think, based on the patterning on the wings, that the butterfly is more likely a Nokomis Fritillary – it has fewer black spots on the upper wings than the Great Spangled. That said, Fritillaries are notoriously difficult to identify.
You may very well be correct about the butterfly, Susan. When it comes to Lepidopterans I’m out of my league…
I don’t think it is a great spangled. All my butterfly experience is in Wisconsin, where they are common. If it is Nokomis Fritillary, it’s a male.
Ron- what a fantastic day of looking and finding. Great images!
Thanks, Dan.
I’ve always thought the Waxwing had a bit of an angry look to begin with but boy he really looks pissed now❗️
I admire bird photographers so much because as you said things can happen in a split second.
You captured some great pictures yesterday 😁
Have a great day
I think you’re right about their typical demeanor, Diana – they often look rather dour. But they’re such pretty birds I forgive them for that… 🙂
Ron, good morning. Love those action shots of the Waxwing. My favorites are three and six. And of course the butterfly shot is beautiful as well. Good day for you. Thanks for sharing.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Yup, it was a good day, Everett – after a bunch of lousy ones.
What great photos, Ron! I love the action and variety. Every morning I read your blog first thing, unless I’m heading out into the field myself. In that case I catch you later in the day.
I’m glad you were feeling well enough to get out with your camera.
That’s good to know, Nancy. Thank you.
A wonderful smorgasbord of natural beauty……….thanks !
Thank you, Kris.
This post seemed like a fun post for you. I really enjoyed the waxwing and of course the butterfly.
Anytime a Peregrine Falcon is viewable and especially when your lens is on it *no matter how far away) it is fantastic!
Stay cool, the weather is getting hot!
Dick, it was fun getting the photos and delightful when I found what I had actually captured when I got home. But it was nothing but despair when WordPress malfunctioned and I lost a lot of work on a very long post and had to almost start from the beginning again!
I understand fully, trouble is I continually forget to copy what I write just in case. I get so used to having stuff happen naturally! You would think I’d learn!!
After losing text many times I now ALWAYS copy my text before I save. But this time it was photos that WordPress lost for me – 10 out of the 12 of them!
Sorry about that, loss of photos is tough!
“Variety is the spice of life’! Don’t you just love a day when you find much to photograph…it’s even better when you get home and start checking what you captured. You just have to wonder what stirred up the WaxWing; I can imagine his excitement flitting about. And it looks like you had clear blue skies…a great day overall! 🙂
Kathy, with that waxwing everything happened at blinding speed so I had no idea what I’d captured until I got home and looked at the images in my big screen.