{"id":93083,"date":"2021-08-08T06:08:15","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T12:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=93083"},"modified":"2025-05-10T14:27:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T19:27:23","slug":"young-cedar-waxwing-with-a-crane-fly-leg-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/08\/young-cedar-waxwing-with-a-crane-fly-leg-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Cedar Waxwing With A Crane Fly Leg Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungYoung Cedar Waxwing with a wide open bill \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This young Cedar Waxwing may look like it is yawning, calling, or begging for food because of its wide open bill. Without the context of what happened prior to this photo being taken a person might assume that is what is going on when looking at this single image.<\/p>\n

Before this photo was taken I watched and photographed this juvenile Cedar Waxwing catching and consuming a crane fly while I was sitting near a willow thicket high in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> almost a year ago today. The body of the crane fly, also known as a mosquito hawk, went down the waxwing’s throat easily. The legs? Not so much. The legs got stuck on the young bird’s head and bill.<\/p>\n

In this photo one of the crane fly legs can bee seen sticking out of the top of the right side of the head of the waxwing and another is just barely visible on the left side of the gape of the waxwing’s wide open bill.<\/p>\n

I believe the young Cedar Waxwing opened its bill as wide as it did in an attempt to dislodge the crane fly leg.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Cedar Waxwing with crane fly legs in its bill \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In this second photo both of the crane fly legs can be seen. Perhaps the leg near the bill of this immature Cedar Waxwing was annoying to the young bird. Maybe it even tickled the fleshy gape or the short feathers near the bill. I can’t say for sure.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched juvenile Cedar Waxwing with crane fly legs stuck on its head \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I do know from my own observations that this juvenile Cedar Waxwing kept attempting to dislodge the crane fly leg until it finally succeeded in doing so by scraping its bill on several branches and twigs before it continued foraging for prey.\u00a0 Watching this young Cedar Waxwing getting rid of those crane fly legs was interesting and one of the highlights of my summer morning. Photographing birds can be so much fun.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Cedar Waxwing photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This young Cedar Waxwing may look like it is yawning, calling, or begging for food because of its wide open bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,4597,4594,26,773],"tags":[4599,3940,4598,10294,4141,4067,4071,6220,10293,4069,2127,4104,9626,2315,4176,5916,4600,6070,902,4193],"class_list":["post-93083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-cedar-waxwings","category-morgan-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-bombycilla-cedrorum","tag-canyon","tag-cedar-waxwing","tag-crane-fly","tag-fledgling","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-legs","tag-mosquito-hawk","tag-mountains","tag-open-bill","tag-perched","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-summer-3","tag-wasatch-mountains","tag-waxwing","tag-waxwings","tag-willow-thicket","tag-willows","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-juvenile-bill-open-mia-mcpherson-8026.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-odl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":72595,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/10\/young-cedar-waxwing-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":93083,"position":0},"title":"Young Cedar Waxwing Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was excited when I found this young Cedar Waxwing out in the open and within the range of my lens right after it caught a crane fly to eat for breakfast.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Cedar Waxwing eating a crane fly, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-immature-mia-mcpherson-8005.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-immature-mia-mcpherson-8005.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/cedar-waxwing-adult-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9888.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":93083,"position":2},"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 "Birds"","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, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cedar-waxwing-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-2831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cedar-waxwing-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-2831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cedar-waxwing-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-2831.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/cedar-waxwing-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-2831.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73233,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/27\/adult-and-immature-cedar-waxwings-high-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":93083,"position":4},"title":"Adult And Immature Cedar Waxwings High In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"On August 10th I drove into the mountains for a quiet, relaxing morning and came away with quite a few bird photos I have yet to process.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Cedar Waxwing lifting off towards the sky, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cedar-waxwing-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-9455.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-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-9455.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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