Location: Federal Flood Plain area along the Contoocook River, Henniker, NH
Shot: June 4, 2026
Photographer: Grace Dunklee Cohen
Gear: Canon EOS R5 + Canon RF 100-500 at 500mm
Settings: 1/3200 - f / 7.1, ISO 1250 handheld
When I can squeeze time in during the late afternoon, I enjoy walking the decades-abandoned
old road nestled between the Contoocook River, and the “new” road running parallel. This strip
of land includes swamps, ponds, woodlands and farm fields, and is rich with birds and
multitudes of wildlife ??“ so I sometimes get lucky with a shot.
This day was no exception ??“ two Cedar Waxwings were individually busy feeding ??“ one snagging
flying insects from a nearby high perch in an old dead tree. The other was hard at work pulling
what looked like flying ants from under the loose bark of a massive, long-dead White Pine tree.
I took a time out to shoot a few rounds of a nearby Baltimore Oriole. When I turned back to
find the Waxwings, they had met and were cozying up to each other on a dead branch. I
collected quite a few nice images of their intimate gestures and sharing offerings of food.
This is one of my favorite images … The fog was burning off and a bit of blue was starting to
show through the background sky but the bright sun almost blew out the highlights on the
bird’s upper wings. I had to do a lot of highlight and shadow adjustments to bring out the
feather detail in the wings.
Editing was marginal ??“ a tight crop, darkening and toning down saturation in the background,
lightening shadows and lifting black a bit on the birds to open some detail. I sharpened lightly in
On1 NoNoise 2024, then added just a bit more attention to the bird’s eye with a touch of
contrast, white and highlights, and a slight lift of the eye’s deep black.
7 comments posted
Doug Fischer
Lucky you! Could this be an adult feeding a fledgling? The angle is a bit steep. If you had a long lens maybe you could have stepped back some to get more of the head of the right bird. Of course that is not always possible. By then you would have probably lost the moment. A soft vignette around the birds would focus the human eye to the birds. Posted: 07/01/2026 21:49:53
Grace Cohen
Hi Doug - I actually was shooting long (500mm handheld), they were fairly high up, and this is a tight crop. These are adult birds - I observed their behavior for about 40 minutes - first individually foraging on insects - one on a dead pine and the other chasing and capturing on the wing. Then one (female I believe) landed on a nearby branch. The other (male, my guess) approached on the branch and Dan fed about for a couple minutes - closer then further. I thought it might be a mating ritual but, now know they mate for life and feeding each other is not uncommon (but quite delightful to watch)! Posted: 07/01/2026 22:27:31
Dr Isaac Vaisman
Grace, I have never seen these birds here in South Florida. Very beautiful, and showing great interaction. Nice background. Image is sharp. Posted: 07/06/2026 17:17:36
Gerhard Geldenhuys
A great action shot Grace and very adventurous to hand hold your camera rig at 500mm. Well captured and great timing of the inter action between the birds.
It appears , and I stand to corrected, that you have cropped this image drastically from the original capture. ? I mention this as you appeared to have lost some feather detail and there are signs over sharpening. Posted: 07/09/2026 08:42:53
Grace Cohen
Hi Gerhard - your observation about the smoothness of the feathers is correct. However, these birds characteristically have an unusually smooth feather presentation. They almost always look "airbrushed" and look overly sharpened - too smooth to be true. That is one of the traits I find intriguing and beautiful about these birds - the colors are soft and the feathers look so smooth. If you check Merlin (US Bird Pack) or elsewhere, you will find other images that demonstrate this overly smooth feather pattern. Posted: 07/11/2026 19:06:23
Ruth Mayer
This is lovely. Didn't know they mate for life. I get them at my pond in early spring. Lovely image. Nice gesture about feeding each other. Posted: 07/12/2026 21:09:30
Grace Cohen
Thank you, Ruth. I just learned about the meeting for life recently and was surprised. They are such lovely birds! I'm sure you enjoy them as much as I do. Posted: 07/12/2026 23:26:35
