A month ago I was bemoaning the fact that only a handful of Cedar Waxwings had shown up on the CyFair campus. The previous January we had several hundred of these beautiful birds and by the end of last winter we had a flock of over 1100.
I needn't have worried, because more Waxwings began arriving in early February and the flock's numbers have steadily grown. They make a stunning sight as they perch in trees and warm up in the morning sunlight.
Monday morning the birds all settled down in one row of trees so that I was able to photograph them. I then sat down and counted the birds in the photos. The total? Over 1300! This is a staggering number, especially given that most people in our area are finding this is a poor year for Waxwings.
Waxwings normally stay on the campus until early May and so I'm now wondering if the flock will increase still further. I'm also wondering - just dreaming, probably - if one of these days I might find a Bohemian Waxwing hidden away among all those Cedar Waxwings. That really would be an exciting development. Unfortunately, the only sure way to do it is to keep photographing the flock and then to examine every bird in every photo.
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Beautiful waxwing pictures! The numbers have finally increased in my yard, too. The flock is up to 400-500 individuals this week.
ReplyDeleteThat's an impressive number! I hope you're keeping an eye out in case the flock has an errant Bohemian Waxwing.
ReplyDeleteReally lovely pictures. Where are the other 1000?
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