02 July 2008

Cedar waxwing

It's amazing how much of a difference the angle of the light makes; these are the same bird, seconds apart, but the first picture is from after it changed trees and went from a dark background to sunny sky behind it.


This is only the second time I have seen a cedar waxwing (that I can recall, anyway; the odds of having not seen one as a kid seem low, given the amount of time spent in evergreen forests in winter), and while I remembered the field marks as "like a female cardinal, more cinnamon, black eyes and beak, red spots on wings", the bit about the bright yellow tail tip I did not remember, so I would up thinking briefly about open cans of paint.
Not a zoo bird, but on the zoo grounds; never quite sure how to classify those.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

oh, nice. i've also only ever seen one, and while i remembered the yellow tailtip, i had forgotten the red wing spots.