First bird post: Cedar Waxwings?

[Rjohn518]

Hi all. Okay, this is my first bird pic post. I've been lurking and learning, I hope. These two were taken in the spring near Branson, MO. I had never seen these birds before, and they were quite striking. Taken through the branches in mixed lighting, so maybe not the best...C+C welcome!

Bob

[Rjohn518]

Wow--I see lots of jpeg artifacts after I uploaded these--sorry.

[CarolP]

Yes, they are Cedar waxwings and they are quite striking
I took a photo of one last week and it turned out very similar to yours. It is the first time I had ever seen one.
I plan on posting mine too to see what they experts have to say. I took it from quite a distance away and other than the colors, no detail shows up in the bird! Did you crop these before posting?

[Rjohn518]

Hi CarolP
Yes, these images were cropped. They were taken with my Canon 100-400L, but even at the long end, I couldn't fill the frame with the bird. But the image on my computer looks much better than the downsized versions posted here. Maybe I'm doing something wrong to make them fit/meet the size requirements of the forums.
They are very pretty birds--we don't have them around the Chicago area...

Bob

[dazzlebea]

Are you saving your pics for the web? Downsize them in there. I'm sure your originals look much better :)

[Rjohn518]

I didn't save for web with these images, so I'll try again with another image. Let me knowif the crane photo looks better...Thanks
Bob

[CarolP]

Hi Bob,
I think it is a nice in flight shot but the background looks really grainey to me. Did you use a really high ISO?

[Anthony J Howe]

What a catch to get the crane in-flight, good shot.