Waxwing takeoff shots have been a goal of mine for some time and I finally succeeded two days ago in the Wasatch Mountains.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
The bird was perched at an angle on the branch that strongly suggested it might take off to my left which would give me a nice angle on the bird in flight so I worked both myself and my camera hard at getting one. I took 116 shots of the waxwing on the perch, most of them in short, quick bursts in hopes of getting lucky and timing one just as it took off.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
And after many failed attempts in the past I finally succeeded.
Although this may not be my preferred wing position in flight or at takeoff I was fortunate to get it because I was so close to the bird that it filled a large portion of the frame while perched. If the wings had been in the up or down position I’d almost certainly have clipped them or cut them off in flight. At 1/4000 second shutter speed the wing softness is most likely due to depth of field rather than motion blur.
I like the sharpness and good detail of the waxwing in flight, the feather shadows on the belly that look just a little like ribs and that single toe still pushing off from the perch. I’m a little less pleased with the homogenous tan background that supplies little context to the image, other than suggesting it’s faraway dried vegetation back there which is exactly what it was. I also wish I had a little more room at bottom for a more pleasing composition.
It always feels good to work hard on a goal and finally achieve some success. In bird photography there are no guarantees, no matter how long or how often we try.
Ron
I love following your personal challenges. It’s just too cool when you achieve one, or even mostly one. What a time for celebration!
And what hubris that birds think they can just fall into the sky and their wings will suspend them! Oh yeah, that works. Not hubris. That’s reserved for us humans, isn’t it? As Roseanne Roseannadanna would say, “Never mind.” Sigh!
As for hearing, my excuse is too many race cars, too close, too much rock and roll over too many years. Huh? I muddle through most of the time, but oddly the one thing I can hear clearly is bird calls and hawk bells. Human speech, not so much. Tells you where my interests lie, doesn’t it? 🙂
Ron, I actually think that the background shows off the beautiful feathers and colors. I especially like the black around the eyes and the yellow tip on the tail.
How lucky you/we are that you got these shots. You must be very pleased to photo this bird in flight.
Thanks for the beautiful photos, once again, Ron.
Several people have mentioned that they like the background, Alice. I think I just get weary of that color in my shots because it’s so dry around here so much of the time and I get that color in my background for months on end.
I really like the yellow at the end of the tail — makes the tail look like it’s firing boosters!
Very cool shot and congrats at being able to check off another goal! 🙂
Thanks, Marty. It was fun to finally get one.
I am so glad that you have conquered yet another challenge. And am pretty sure that you will quickly find another to replace it. Love this subtle charmer – thank you.
On the hearing front: Mine is good. A cardboard fridge magnet falling has woken me before now. My partner’s hearing is not good. He hasn’t got to his father’s level of deafness yet. Fortunately. My voice was at just the wrong frequency for his father who frequently hung up on me when I rang ‘saying there is no-one there’. (My voice is not high.)
EC, I’ve never noticed another sound type or frequency that I couldn’t hear about as well as most other folks. The waxwings are the first and I’m stymied.
I like the ribby shadows the wing feathers cast on the bird’s body. I know what you mean about the tan paint uniform background. This species doesn’t come through here until a bit later in the year, when madrone berries ripen. I love their chatty little flocks and I don’t know much about them from personal observation, so I like to watch them every year.
My husband Jim complains that he blew his ears out during his years as a Starship sound man, but he is the one who wakes up at 3 a.m. asking “What was that?” because the high-pitched hum of some motor in the house has changed frequency, or rhythm…
I’m like Jim in that respect, Martha. The tiniest noise or change in noise either wakes me up or keeps me awake. I sleep with a white noise machine to hopefully even things out.
Amen.
🙂
Great photos, Ron, congratulations on getting your long-sought takeoff shot! I really like the “shadow ribs” created by the spread of its wing, I do love waxies and look forward to hearing the high-pitched whine (“tseeeeeeeee”) that announces their return to my neighborhood. They are frequently in the trees overhanging my yard (wintertime, mostly) and usually the only way I know is because I hear them before I see them way up there. They used to congregate in bunches in my fountain (I counted 20 one time!) a few years ago, but haven’t done that recently.
Chris, I very rarely see them in my yard and haven’t for several years. There’s sure a bunch of them in the mountains right now though – lots of berries up there this year.
Although named for the small, red, “drop og sealing wax” on their wings, these beautiful. Sleek birds look like they are made of wax…their colors are so smooth, soft and subtle…
Patty, Photographers “know” waxwings (and some owls) for that very characteristic of softness, which makes it more difficult to get fine detail in their feathers in photographs.
Beautiful and sharp shots Ron, excellent job.
As far as hearing them, all I can say is that I used to be able up till the age of 76. Since then, I can only hear them if they are very close, e.g. above me in a tree, but even then the sound is weak. You have to understand, I use to be a competitive shooting coach in my younger days. I’m sure that did a job on my hearing. High warbler sounds are also absent from my hearing! Hey, we All get old, just glad my hearing is adequate enough that I don’t need hearing aids yet. My wife says I’m in denial! VBG!
Dick, men have worse hearing than women in general but most researchers attribute that to the fact that men, because of their work and lifestyles, are more likely to have subtle hearing damage – which relates to your own experience.
Congratulations on capturing the takeoff, and with no clipped wings! I think the dead twig the bird was on helps with the context of dead vegetation. And the color goes very nicely with the bird. I agree with you that more room at the bottom would make for better composition, but your success in capturing the takeoff is more important. IMO.
” your success in capturing the takeoff is more important”
Agreed, Susan. Thank you.
Super shots Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Beautiful photos! I love waxwings – they are so outstanding looking and fast, so its great you have managed to capture them! I guess I’ll count myself lucky to be among those who can hear their slightly high pitched metallic sounds. I “look” forward to hearing those sounds every Spring, then I know they have returned from the south. And I always hear them before I can see them!
You’re lucky, Joanne. I’ve heard them so seldom I can’t even imagine in my head what they sound like.
I do love that background! The bird’s colors match nicely with the background, and it is very sharp! Great shot!
Thanks, Xavier. Yes, that background color is certainly complementary to that of the bird.
Nice to have goals and better to achieve them! Kudos! Without the catchlight one is hard pressed to see those eyes. These masked bandits are a joy to watch; they are such a social bird, rarely alone. Their visit though is over when the last berry is plucked! I love the passing of the fruit that goes on between pairs and the gentle sounds they make. Some birds are pure pleasure and these are one of them.
” I love… the gentle sounds they make”
Kathy, Inexplicably I can’t hear them, even when other people can hear them clearly, unless they’re extremely close. I know of another man, reader April Olson’s husband, who can’t hear them either. And I have good hearing! Makes absolutely no sense to me…
That is strange. Perhaps it has to do with the ‘frequency’, (I think that is the right term) of the sounds. Some people do not hear the higher levels for some reason. It would be interesting to see how many of those who do not hear them are men…sometimes women, I think, just naturally hear the higher levels more easily. I can be in the house with a window open and I know when they have arrived.
Kathy, I like your theory that women naturally hear the higher frequencies more easily. However, my hearing was slightly killed early on (nerve deafness), and the first thing that went was the high frequencies. Even with good hearing aids, the high frequencies are still difficult.
Maybe it’s a frequency thing. I would be curious if more of the people who cannot hear them well are male. I think females just naturally hear higher pitches.
In doing some quick research I found several sites that say on average women can hear higher frequencies better than men.
Men seem to have selective hearing loss.
My mother always described selective hearing as ‘some are deaf by act of god, and some by malice.’