Cedar Waxwings.

Three Cedar Waxwings
Cyanotype and Gum Bichromate Print

These three unfortunate fellows (or ladies) met their demise in the sliding glass doors of the upstairs part of the apartment I rent. Sad, but I appreciated the chance to see these birds up close. Besides the bright yellow ends of their tails, their wings have neon orange filament-like tips on them, not a color I'm used to seeing on local birds. This reminded me of part of Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. One of the characters, Deanna Wolfe, talks about the now extinct Carolina Parakeet that inhabited the United States, including North Carolina, and how its appearance would now be considered exotic. I guess it is all a matter of the familiar and alien.