Shot of the Month – August 2022

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh……ooh, how delicious.  I feel like one of those paparazzi photographers spying on the rich and famous.  Peering through the bushes with my high-powered lens to capture an illicit embrace.  To get this shot I did lie on my back with my lens resting on my knees – it was the only way to shoot through that small opening in the branches and leaves.

What we actually have here is two lovely Cedar Waxwings performing a courtship ritual known as “courtship feeding.”  Usually, it goes down like this:

The male goes off and finds a suitable gift – this could be a piece of fruit, an insect, or even just a flower petal.

He flies over to the female and lands on the same branch.  He hops, hops, hops his way over next to her.

He offers the gift.  If she digs the guy she will accept it.  Now she hops, hops, hops down the branch away from the male.

She then hops, hops, hops back over to him.  She offers the gift back to the male.  He takes it.

And now repeat, many times.  Eventually, the female eats the gift.

The male will go off and find another worthwhile gift and the courtship continues.  And if all goes well…..well, you know.  Baby waxwings…

Below, this time in black and white, we have the same pair handing off another gift:

On a different occasion, I found two waxwings in a similar pose.  The birds were highly backlit so it became this silhouette:

 

Remember this childhood taunt?

Jack and Jill
Sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
First comes love
Then comes marriage
Then comes baby
In a baby carriage!

 

I am starting to get an idea of where that came from…

 

Ahhh, courtship feeding – a time-tested strategy shared by bros and birds alike.

 

 

Until next month…..m

 

 

Check out these videos if you want to see some courtship feeding in action:

Courtship-1

Courtship-2

 

And here is a previous post I did on Cedar Waxwings.

 

Nikon D4S, Nikon 600 mm, f/4, 1/1000 sec, ISO 3200, +0.333 EV