Cedar waxwings

[Copy_Kot]

I was getting really tired of seeing the same old birds everyday so it was a pretty nice surprise to see these cedar waxwings today (only my second time). The light was horrible and they wouldn’t come out into the open to get a clear shot… but it was still great to see them.

Hopefully the sun will be out tomorrow and they will be there eating the same berries.



This was the mess of branches they were in…



This image has had a very heavy crop. I’m only posting it to show the difference in color from the last time I saw them.



And here is an image from 12/09/06, my first time seeing them. Notice how much brighter the blue/gray feathers in the above image are?



Thank you for looking.

edit- Photobucket is terrible, it's hard to tell a difference in their colors now. Once I load an image on P/B it loses brightness.

[OBie]

I have never seen a waxwing in person. I am so jealous - and you had an entire flock! Thanks for the pics.

[big baldo]

Great shots!!:thumbsup: I havent seen one either! Such a beautiful bird.They are one of the birds that I have marked in my book as top ten! The book says that they will winter in Florida but I'm still looking. Send a few down to me if ya dont mind

[OBie]

And tell them to stop in NC on the way! I'll leave some berries out for them.

[Copy_Kot]

Thank you OBie and Big Baldo,

The birds in the second image are about 1/4th of the flock. There were two big trees, one on each side of the frame blocking the view of the entire flock.

Big Baldo, you are correct, my Sibley guide says that they winter as far south as Florida... so now is the time to look for them (lol). Each time that I have seen them, they were near a food source, berries of some kind. Also, each time, they were high in the tree tops and would fly down to grab a berry and then fly right back up.

Here is a really cool link that Paulnj posted in the bird ID thread. If you scroll down about half way, and look to the right of the page, you can hear a recording of what cedar waxwings sound like. http://www.uwgb.edu/birds/wbba/speciesaudios.htm

[Copy_Kot]

Here is part of a flock that was feeding in my backyard today (I have berries growing). I didn't have to go looking for them... they came to me I wish I could get just one really good image of one. No sun at all today

The flock was scared away by a %*&$ blue-jay





edited to add this one...

[Knight]

Nice Captures, Copy Kot Im jealous i have only seen one so far and that was a year ago .

[Copy_Kot]

Thank you Knight. I think you have both the cedar and bohemian waxwings in your area... I would really love an image of a bohemian, I think they are much more colorful.