Photo of the Week - Unusual Visitor

There is a bird that has eluded my camera for some time, and is an infrequent visitor to the piedmont area of North Carolina.  However, this year, for the first time I was able to photograph the cedar waxwing.  

There is a plum tree in my area that birds frequent in early spring as it is the first to bud, and I spend about two weeks photographing birds in that tree per year. On this day, I had mostly been photographing the northern cardinal, when I saw a flutter to the right of my lens.  I slowly panned my camera and lens to find the bird, so as not to frighten it.  There it was, a lone waxwing waiting to be photographed, and sitting on a branch just as calmly as could be.  It had come down to rest before continuing its long flight to Canada where it will breed.  When I do see these birds they are usually in flocks, but this one was a loner, and also marked it more unique than ever.  There are times where God smiles on you and this was one of those times. 

I wouldn't expect to see many images of the cedar waxwing in my collections, but this one became the first and it will always be special to me for that reason.