A couple weeks ago I posted about the flying bits of gold I saw across the street over the neighborhood pond. Cedar waxwings, birds we don’t see very often, were chasing insects in the fading evening light. (For this post you really should click on the images to see them larger.)

Two nights ago while eating dinner I caught a glimpse of gold over the pond again.

Last time I struggled with the dim light and the quick slivers of golden wing.

Focusing was pretty much impossible.

So this time when I headed over with my camera fitted with the long lens I knew better then to try to get them flying across the pond.

And I knew just where the dead tree was that they landed in regularly to rest between flights.

So that’s where I stayed, right below that tree, catching them coming and going.

Still, I had to move the ISO up very high so there’s quite a bit of grain, especially when they’re cropped.

I like to think of those as art. So many of them show the elegence of these birds, in an almost stylized manner. I think some of these look like paintings rather then photographs.

And I’m OK with that.

Each of these images makes me smile. I hope you’re smiing too.