{"id":47273,"date":"2017-06-13T05:39:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T11:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47273"},"modified":"2025-05-10T07:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T12:10:16","slug":"cedar-waxwings-in-a-canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/13\/cedar-waxwings-in-a-canyon\/","title":{"rendered":"Cedar Waxwings in a Canyon &#038; Memories of My Grandmother From Long Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-144064 size-full\" title=\"Cedar Waxwing adult in Morgan County, Wasatch Mountains, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092.jpg\" alt=\"Cedar Waxwing adult in Morgan County, Wasatch Mountains, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-6092.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Cedar Waxwing adult in Morgan County &#8211; Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1,4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The weather has been kind of cruddy around here lately with high winds, snow in the higher elevations, drizzle in the valley and clouds which have all kept me out of the field since last Friday.<\/p>\n<p>I get antsy when I can&#8217;t be out in the field photographing birds. The weather is taking a turn for the better though and I hope to be back in the field as early as tomorrow or maybe even later this afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>I was looking through my archives from last year and came across some images I had taken last June in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Morgan_County,_Utah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Morgan County<\/span><\/a>, Utah that I hadn&#8217;t processed yet and I came across these Cedar Waxwing photos.<\/p>\n<p>I heard these Cedar Waxwings before I saw them which is usual for me and then when I did see them I was delighted that they were out in the open because usually I see them buried under the canopy of trees.<\/p>\n<p>I suspect that these waxwings were nesting in the area because I saw a few of them through my lens at what appeared to be nests deep in the shade of the oaks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-wp-editing=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-144061 size-full\" title=\"Cedar Waxwing adult perched on a bare branch, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271.jpg\" alt=\"Cedar Waxwing adult perched on a bare branch, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Cedar Waxwing adult perched on a bare branch &#8211; Nikon D810, f8, 1\/640, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1,4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I often think about my maternal grandmother when I see and hear Cedar Waxwings because when she visited me and my family in Georgia many years ago she and I shared a wonderful moment with these birds. I had a privet outside of my back door which produced tiny little berries that the waxwings would come to in huge flocks during the month of December.<\/p>\n<p>My grandmother had come to stay for Christmas and we were sitting at my dining room table when I heard the waxwings fly in. We opened the backdoor slowly and from inside we were able to watch, shoulder to shoulder, as the flock of Cedar Waxwings ate the berries off of that privet until they had picked it clean.<\/p>\n<p>My grandmother and I were both so happy to have seen them and to have shared the moment with each other. My grandmother painted birds and loved them all. I can&#8217;t help but feel that she would be delighted that I photograph them now.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/cedar-waxwing-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Cedar Waxwing photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was looking through my archives from last year and came across some images I had taken last June in Morgan County, Utah that I hadn&#8217;t processed yet and I came across these Cedar Waxwing photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4597,4594,26],"tags":[4004,6605,4599,4897,6577,3940,4598,5370,4069,4998,4104,8437,5916,4600],"class_list":["post-47273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-cedar-waxwings","category-morgan-county","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-berries","tag-bombycilla-cedrorum","tag-branch","tag-branches","tag-canyon","tag-cedar-waxwing","tag-forest","tag-mountains","tag-nests","tag-perched","tag-privet","tag-waxwing","tag-waxwings"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-branch-mia-mcpherson-6271.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cit","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27798,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/25\/a-cedar-waxwing-in-little-emigration-canyon\/","url_meta":{"origin":47273,"position":0},"title":"Cedar Waxwing in Little Emigration Canyon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It was clear, smoke-free, cool and wonderful up in Little Emigration Canyon yesterday and seeing several Cedar Waxwings made it even better.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cedar Waxwing in Little Emigration Canyon, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-2173.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-2173.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-2173.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-mia-mcpherson-2173.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70172,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/22\/searching-and-listening-for-cedar-waxwings\/","url_meta":{"origin":47273,"position":1},"title":"Searching And Listening For Cedar Waxwings","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time I've gone up into the Wasatch Mountains lately I have been searching and listening for Cedar Waxwings to observe and photograph.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Staring Cedar Waxwing adult in a Hawthorn tree, Wasatch Mountains, East Canyon, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1945.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1945.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1945.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1945.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59603,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/08\/19\/cedar-waxwings-perched-and-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":47273,"position":2},"title":"Cedar Waxwings &#8211; Perched And On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a nice time photographing Cedar Waxwings yesterday morning as they perched in willows next to a creek and while they were on the wing catching insects in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Cedar Waxwing lift off, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2910.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2910.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2910.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2910.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104602,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/29\/adult-cedar-waxwing-in-morgan-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":47273,"position":3},"title":"Adult Cedar Waxwing In Morgan County","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was happy to photograph an adult Cedar Waxwing perched on top of a willow thicket in Morgan County high in the Wasatch Mountains four days ago.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cedar Waxwing with a raised crest, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cedar-waxwing-willows-mia-mcpherson-8498.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cedar-waxwing-willows-mia-mcpherson-8498.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cedar-waxwing-willows-mia-mcpherson-8498.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cedar-waxwing-willows-mia-mcpherson-8498.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103138,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/10\/serviceberry-and-cedar-waxwing-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":47273,"position":4},"title":"Serviceberry And Cedar Waxwing Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I stopped to take a series of Cedar Waxwing images as a small flock of waxwings perched in a serviceberry that has just finished blooming.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cedar Waxwing perched on a serviceberry branch, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-7835.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-7835.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-7835.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-7835.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62818,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/17\/photographing-cedar-waxwings-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":47273,"position":5},"title":"Photographing Cedar Waxwings In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"For a couple of years now I have enjoyed photographing Cedar Waxwings high up in the Wasatch Mountains from spring through the tail end of autumn.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cedar Waxwing close up in a blooming Hawthorn, Wasatch Mountains, East Canyon, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-close-up-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1085.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-close-up-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1085.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-close-up-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1085.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-close-up-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-1085.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}