And what about those red, waxy feather tips?
1/3200, 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
So far this summer I’ve had very little luck with Cedar Waxwings so even though ‘he’ was far from cooperative I was more than pleased to find this one in the mountains yesterday morning. After stopping my pickup I quickly got my lens on him but he only allowed me two quick shots before looking away. And he continued to look to his right for the rest of the time he was here so I have many shots of him with no eye contact. None.
Because their feathers are so fine Cedar Waxwings (and some owls) are notorious among bird photographer’s for showing little plumage detail in photographs but this shot has oodles of it. I also like the background (a distant mountain valley), the pose and the even light on most of the bird. I’m less pleased by the shadows on his tail and wing but for some reason these particular shadows bother me less than most.
This pose allows an unusually good look at the distinctive red waxy appendages on the wing secondaries so once again I couldn’t resist taking advantage of the excellent detail in the photo and zooming in on them. Bigly.
This huge crop of the same photo (5% of the original image,1 MP of 20 MP) provides the best waxy tip detail I’ve ever seen in my photos of wild waxwings. To me they look like tiny feathers in and of themselves.
The number of red, waxy appendages on the wing secondaries varies on individual birds and females tend to have fewer of them. The red color is provided by a carotenoid pigment called astaxanthin. For many years it was believed that the function of the waxy tips was to protect the feather shafts from wear as the birds fluttered among the branches of cedar trees but there is no evidence for that hypothesis. Today they’re thought to be important status signals that function in mate selection.
A few Cedar Waxwings have been noted to have yellow waxy tips instead of red. Now that’s a photo I’d love to get.
Ron
Notes:
- Blood-red astaxanthin is produced naturally by some freshwater microalgae. When the algae is stressed by lack of nutrients, increased salinity or too much sunshine astaxanthin is produced. Then animals who feed on the algae such as salmon, flamingos and many crustaceans (shrimp, krill, crab, lobster and crayfish) show the red-orange colors in their bodies to varying degrees.
- Sorry about ‘bigly’. Couldn’t resist.
Ohmygosh, what a wonderful photo! Beautiful bird. Thanks for the close up. I found a dead one a few years ago and was able so same some of the feathers with “wax”. I appreciate learning more about them Thanks, Ron.
When I first looked at your waxwing I thought it was a painting– almost had a polished look. You would never have posted such a pixillated photo. The blown-up crop has informed me bigly!
I opened the post. Was blown away by the image. Read through the comments. Laughed. Learned.
Yet another bigly success.
And huge thanks to all.
Thanks, EC. Laughed and learned is a great combination, especially these days.
Cedar Waxwings are pretty nifty birds. Their feathers look so much like fur to me that they appear to be airbrushed. Thank you for the extreme closeup.
I like that they belly up to the bar (or at least belly up to the berries) on occasion — my kinda bird. 😉 Hopefully, they don’t “forage and fly.”
And I see absolutely nothing wrong with “bigly.” Adding additional suffixes just gives you a mondiferously awesomatious vocabillary. (Take THAT, Spellcheck, you big stinker!)
“Adding additional suffixes just gives you a mondiferously awesomatious vocabillary”
Marty, I’ll bet spellcheck jumped all over you with that sentence!
That airbrushed look is indicative of why it’s so difficult to get fine detail in photos of them.
Just a gorgeous image, Ron! Love the Waxies, and really enjoy hearing their constant “zeeeee” as they flock to trees in my neighborhood most any time of year except summer. I’ve been lucky enough to see more than a dozen in my backyard fountain at one time (it’s not that big, so lots of pushing and shoving going on). I’m envious of Barbara’s opportunity to hold one in her hands as it sobered up.
Chris, as strange as it may seem I can rarely hear Cedar Waxwings even when others, especially women, have no problem at all hearing them. If they’re super close I can hear them but just barely and my hearing is quite good. I have no trouble hearing other bird species.
I’ve heard other men say they have trouble hearing them too. I don’t know if it’s a sound frequency thing for some men or not.
Interesting. My voice apparently falls into that range. My partner’s father would often hang up if I rang and he answered the phone saying indignantly ‘there is no-one on the line’.
I’ve stood at the pond near my house and watched the Cedar Waxwings flit but bush to tree (including red cedars🤔). They rarely seem to stay put for more than a few seconds. So I’m doubly impressed at this photo.
A 95% crop. Now you’re just showing off. 😄
“Now you’re just showing off”
Perhaps. I’ll admit that I’m pretty happy with my lens when it’s working properly, which thankfully is the vast majority of the time.
-50 points for use of bigly!!!! Which autocorrect keeps trying to change to bigot. Autocorrect may be smarter than I think. I love these birds. So pretty.
“Autocorrect may be smarter than I think”
Loved that, Arwen. First time I’ve smiled, much less laughed, all morning.
Wonderful lbird, wonderful photo!
Thank you, Nancy.
Very nice waxwing photo and the close up is interesting. The red tips are so neat if you see one close up. I will try to remember to photograph one next time I have a chance and send it to you. I was up there yesterday too and wondered if you and Mia were around. I did not have much luck. The birds were too far away or deep in the willow. I saw more juvenile cow birds chasing their exhausted song sparrow parents than anything else. I saw one cowbird in a group of juvenile blackbirds and one juvenile cowbird with a catbird.
April, I feel so sorry for those poor Song Sparrows. Cowbird fledglings have been hounding them for food for nearly two weeks now.
I second Everett’s reaction to this photo– a big “WOW” jumped out
of me when I opened your blog this morning–the best Cedar Waxwing,
and maybe an all-time gorgeous any-bird species image I’ve yet seen !
Thanks, Kris. And to think I almost didn’t post it because of the shadows on the tail and wing.
The waxy feather tipe (fused barbs with excess keratin) are, as you say, more prominent on males than females, but this is not a reliable indicator of sex. Older birds of either sex have more than younger birds. So what role they play for the bird is stil anyone’s guess. Barbara mentioned the laurel berries at our old house. These berries sit uneaten for weeks, then suddenly, in one day the waxwings and robins descend in great numbers to feed on them. Why the change? When they are fully ripe, the cuticle of the berry suddenly reflects ultraviolet light. We can’t see this so the berries look the same to us, but birds do see ultraviolet light and this is their signal that the berries are now ready to eat. (Over the years, we did try to remove as many of these plants as possible. They are not native and somewhat invasive. But, there were many on the property and they were very large plants so we didn’t succeed in getting them all removed before we sold the property recently. While they do attract waxwings, they wil not be planted at our new home.)
That’s fascinating about the UV light, Dan. I had no idea. Is the same phenomenon true with berries other than laurel?
I don’t know how universal it it be it is certainly true of many wild fruits. Chili peppers would be another good example. When the capsaicin surrounding the seeds is at its highest level, giving protection from mammals, but making them ready to pass through a bird’s digestive tract, the pepper reflects UV to attract the birds.
Great photo of one of my favorite birds! Do I have too many “favorite” birds? I think they may all be my favorite 🙂
Joanne, I see nothing wrong with having a bunch of favorites. Thanks.
I once held one in my hands for about 20 minutes while it “sobered” up!
At our old home, there was a hedge of Portuguese laurel out back which reached to our 2nd floor deck. Each year, magically, it seemed, the waxwings and robins knew on which day the berries of the hedge had ripened. They would spend 2-3 days stripping the hedge of the berries! A couple of days later, some young-of-the-year stragglers would venture by to eat. It was one of these youngsters who waited ‘til the berries were a wee bit too ripe, and had some level of fermentation involved in them. The young bird got a wee bit doozy on berries, and mis-steered into my glass slider, very gently, I might note. I went out to pick it up, and there it sat, eyeing me from time to time, sobering up. It was such a beautiful soft-colored bird to get to hold! Quite the treat!
Barbara, as you know waxwings in particular have a reputation for getting a wee bit tipsy, sometimes downright drunk, on fermented berries.
I haven’t seen it but I know of folks who have and now you’re among them.
Them getting “drunk” is a new one to me! I’ve never seen it! 🙂
Thank you for zooming in on this waxing info I had no idea why they had the strange name. I find it is a most beautiful bird and feel lucky when I glimpse them.
Thanks, Diane. Bohemian Waxwings derive their name from the same trait.
Amazing! I can’t believe the detail, good that you gave in to temptation and took the shot. I typically don’t see this type of detail at the time i take photos until i look at the results later. I’m curious if the red color was bright enough for you to notice through the viewfinder.
Elmer, yes the red was easy to see through the viewfinder. It usually is unless I’m far away from the bird.
Wow. I’m not sure I’d seen a Cedar Waxwing before. As Judy said, subtly beautiful. And cool to see those red tips up close.
Thank you, Cathy.
Wonderful detail of the “red”……. 🙂 They are such subtly beautiful birds. Normally in summer they are hard to spot or even see here with all the other birds around and leafy trees. This year for awhile there were 2 feeding on a gooseberry very near the house – how they avoid the thorns is beyond me but they do…….. 😉
Thanks, Judy. Where there are berries there will usually be waxwings at one time or another.
Beautiful Ron. Might be the best Cedar Waxwing photo I have seen. They come to our neighborhood once a year, I think in the spring, but now don’t remember for sure. Even though they are everywhere for a while I always find it hard to get that perfect photo. They move around a lot from tree to tree and also tend to never be in that perfect position relative to the light etc. Interesting post as always.
Thank you, Everett. I used to see them in my yard but now I rarely do.