Juvenile Cedar Waxwing - The Spring Result
Back in 2007 I had this great opportunity to capture over 50 photos of the juvenile Cedar Waxwing [Bombycilla cedrorum]. The amazing thing about all juvenile or baby birds is that they don't know the definition of danger at their early stage of life. They are very vulnerable, thus the function of the parent, to protect them. Out of many here are the photos, note on one of them yellow marking on the tail. The nice thing was that I was able to get very close, we are talking 2 feet away. I guess he or she must have been really new to the world and enjoyed my photo shoot. This is my another great photo of the juvenile bird, as some of you who been blogging with me for a while know my famous juvenile Barn Swallow [Hirundo rustica], the one I been hiding my face behind, then I had to shed some feathers and show you the real me. The moment was the same, I was able to get very close with my camera - but not too close because parents were around.
The interesting part is I recall those moments when Matthew was a tiny baby and would go from arms to arms, and just be there, look around, smile at everyone and observe. Sometimes I wondered if he knew who his mother was. And now at 10 months and 1/2 he knows. Matthew recognizes familiar faces, occasionally after getting to know someone he would eventually go to them, but not for long. In the last couple of weeks Matthew did learn how to be affectionate. Unfortunately, he started with hugging stuffed bear first, but he is now hugging us too - of course when he wants to. We got him first shoes this week - so guess what - he is ready to go outside, and yet he does not forget the jacket. I wonder sometimes how much does he know - it seems like everything we do, he wants to do: walk, talk, eat, write, answer the phone and cook.
Spring is finally here, and all the birds in our neighbourhood are singing away - yes yes mating season. Those red wing black birds just don't give up. Geese are flying from place to place. Crows from one end to the other. Seagulls the same. This is not very exotic bird crowd, but hey its a sign of spring, and soon we will be out for adventures too.
Now, if you want to see a real birding photography, check Walk the Wilderness blog - Birding in India: White-browed Fantail Flycatcher.
To compose this combination I just cut out the crescent moon and superimposed on the crescent on the earthshine photo. The crescent on the earthshine is a bit larger because I couldn't keep my camera very still. I tell you why? I did mistake. Since I was very much multitasking - shooting moon, making dinner and trying to entertain Matthew - I improperly mounted my Canon 100-400mm lens on the tripod. Since 100-400mm is heavy lens, it comes with tripod mounting ring that mounts lens to the tripod and the digital camera is the floating one. I mounted my camera to the tripod and lens was the floating one. Piece of advice - don't do it, you can potentially damage the contact between the lens and digital camera.
To compose this combination I took my nice textured crescent moon and full moon from last month. Aligned crescent with full moon, placing crescent on top. I rotated moon, changed moon's opacity, and erased black background from the crescent moon. I adjusted intensity on the Erase tool for more blurred edges. Sharpened both images using Unsharpen mask, and then I applied sepia Photo Filter to give brownish effect.
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