Cedar Waxwing Fever!

I lost track of time on Monday. 

The Cedar Waxwings chose Long Hollow for a little R&R, triggering my inner paparazzi.

It was a gray morning, and I stayed pretty far away so I wouldn't spook them,

so I wasn't sure if any of the hundreds of photos I took would be worth a dang.

Since I was expecting the worse, I'm pretty pleased with the results,

although I had to play with them in Lightroom quite a bit to bring out the color.

Cedar Waxwings do have amazing color. 

Bits of bright yellow and red and blue in odd places

 although I don't think you can see them in my photos. 

Just not enough zoom.

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”

― Robert Lynd

What is joy? It is a bird...

This little guy posed for me outside my kitchen window yesterday. 

I can't remember what kind of bird he is

beyond CUTE!

"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come."

-  Chinese Proverb 

"Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

and never stops at all."

-  Emily Dickenson  

Last week a wave of robins washed over the Hollow.

I was able to snap quite a few of them munching on juniper berries.

I guess we were just a stop on their journey...

The next day they were gone.

That's the second wave of robins we've had in so many months!

"Spring would not be spring without bird songs."

-  Francis M. Chapman   

"The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind."

-  Carly Simon

blue oaks

   leafed out -

    robins back

-  Mike Garofalo, Cuttings

"Be grateful for luck.  Pay the thunder no mind - listen to the birds.  And don't hate nobody."

-  Eubie Blake 

"I hope you love birds too.   It is economical.  It saves going to heaven."

-  Emily Dickinson 

What a sweet surprise to spot these Cedar Waxwings mingling with the Robins!

"To me, the garden is a doorway to other worlds; one of them, of course, is the world of birds.  The garden is their dinner table, bursting with bugs and worms and succulent berries."

-  Anne Raver 

Yesterday Tom reported seeing a raptor flying through the Hollow, bigger than a hawk but smaller than a Bald Eagle. 

Perhaps a Golden Eagle? 

I can only hope... and have my zoom ready.

"What is joy?

It is a bird

That we all want to catch.

It is the same bird

That we all love to see flying"

- Sri Chinmoy   




Contributed to 

Meet the Cedar Waxwing

I noticed them hanging about, 

high in the bare branches of the willow by the pond.  

Ordinary black birds, I thought, 

Nothing special about them, 

except for the way they swooshed in magnificent synchronized flight, 

circling up the Hollow, back again, 

twirling in Figure 8 formation 

before settling all together back in the tree. 

And then one morning, using my zoom, I snapped some photos.

Turns out they aren't black, and they're far from ordinary.

I think they might be my favorite bird now,
with their black eyeliner and gold-tipped garb.

Let me introduce you to the Cedar Waxwing.

(I love my zoom.)

Do you see that bit of yellow on the tail feathers? Amazing!