Bird!

I haven't posted many photos of birds here lately, mainly because I haven't taken a lot of photos of birds lately.  Why?  Because either there aren't many birds out and about this time of year and/or the ones that are out and about are ones I've already taken a gazillion photos of before and why would I need another one?

This is what happens when you've been birding the same region for seven years and have seen and repeatedly photographed the regularly occurring species over and over.  If I want to see new birds, I have to travel far and wide, which I don't particularly want to do.  Luckily, once in a while I get to see one of the regular birds doing something photogenic -- as happened yesterday at Discovery Park.  This juvenile Cedar Waxwing was hanging out there, and wasn't doing anything interesting, but I started taking photos anyway, just in case.

Usually I just go home, look at these sorts of photos, and then delete them because they aren't that interesting -- but this time I was rewarded by a sudden spurt of activity.  The bird got excited by something, and stretched its neck up:

Then it engaged in what looked to me very much like Cedar Waxwing Semaphore -- tail feathers fanned out one direction, and then to the other side:

Followed by a scrunching together of the wings:

I wonder what this means in waxwing lingo?  "Hello, female waxwing on the next tree down, look at my fabulous tail feathers!"   Or maybe, "Hey, you crow there!  Back off, this is my perch!"

I love the way the light shines through the tail feathers.  I guess I'll just keep aiming my camera at the regulars, and see what happens.

Coming tomorrow:  Truman at Discovery Park.