Cedar Waxwings

Only a month or so ago, a customer at one of the art festivals I did asked if I'd ever painted Cedar Waxwings. Well, I had never seen one that I remembered so I asked her about them. She said she's seen them in this area for only a few days to a week once every year in the spring. Sometimes they arrive in a large flock. I'd remembered my dad saying that he'd seen a flock of birds that sounded similar one day in his magnolia tree.
Well a few weeks ago, this pair of birds landed in my crabapple tree and stayed there for about an hour. Of course, my camera was put to good use. I'd never seen such birds and hurried to my Roger Tory Peterson bird book. And what do you know, they were Cedar Waxwings! The yellow band on the end of the tail was a dead giveaway along with the black mask on the eyes.
These birds like fruit trees. I imagine they frequent orchards, but on this one day this pair thought my crabapple was just fine! Here I've painted them in dappled sunlight just as they were when they enjoyed my garden.

• This painting has been sold.