Although this winter period from November into March has not been a particularly good one regarding arrivals of Waxwings in Britain, by chance, I defied the odds and have done pretty well in encounters with this delightful species.
My recent trip to Norway in November last year, resulted in not only seeing double figures of Pine Grosbeaks but, as a bonus, several flocks of Waxwings that were also feasting on the plentiful berry crop around Oslo's suburbs, sometimes in association with the Pine Grosbeaks.
Late January this year found me in Glasgow, spending a few days with my daughter and whilst there a report came via RBA (Rare Bird Alert) of a flock of over one hundred Waxwings not too far from my daughter's flat on the southside of Glasgow. A bus ride across the Clyde got me to the location and to my delight I found the Waxwings perched high in a tree, as is their custom, above a row of terraced houses. I counted them and found there were one hundred and seventy one! I waited and they descended lower, nearer to a particularly obvious berry laden tree in the front garden of one of the houses. While I waited another flock of Waxwings flew in to join the existing flock in the trees and counting them all I reached a figure of three hundred and fifty one, easily the largest flock of Waxwings I have ever seen anywhere. I regret to say I had no camera so could only watch as the entire flock, with much trilling took off and swept fast and low across the road and up into the berry tree, overwhelming an aggressive Mistle Thrush trying to fend them off, its protesting alarm calls completely futile in the face of such a large number of birds. The Mistle Thrush gave up and flew off whilst the ravening horde of Scandinavian invaders gobbled berries as fast as they could for a couple of minutes, before the entire flock, with a roar of wings and trilling calls, swept out of the tree, rose up over the houses and was gone.
Today I followed up a report of a single adult Waxwing that, for the last few days, has been commandeering a small, isolated, berry laden tree in Worcestershire. The tree is situated at an unremarkable place going by the name of Blackminster, on a busy road, by a used car lot and adjacent to a level crossing guarding the main line from Paddington to Worcester and Hereford. The best that can be said of the location is that it makes a change from a supermarket car park or industrial estate which are the classic favourite haunts of Waxwings, the birds being attracted by the berry bearing ornamental trees that are planted in an effort to cosmetically enhance the functional blandness of large areas of concrete and industrial buildings.
I set off for Blackminster in partial sunshine but the weather soon closed in and heavy grey clouds took control of proceedings and ensured that any photography of the Waxwing was going to be a pain in such dull light conditions.
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| The berry tree beside the road and favoured by the Waxwing |
It was only a half hour drive from my home and when I got to my destination five or six birders were already waiting by the berry tree, shivering in a cold wind. There was no sign of the Waxwing in the tree but I soon located it, perched high in another much larger tree across the railway line.
It was now a question of waiting for the Waxwing to feel hungry again, when, according to a photographer who had been present since dawn, it would come down into the berry tree and spend up to an hour either feeding on the berries or sitting in the tree.
It was now a question of waiting for the Waxwing to feel hungry again, when, according to a photographer who had been present since dawn, it would come down into the berry tree and spend up to an hour either feeding on the berries or sitting in the tree.
The Waxwing was in no hurry, and why not as it had the entire berry laden tree to itself to feed from and was obviously not hungry. It spent the next forty or so minutes preening in the top of the large tree and then picking at the emerging buds on the twigs of the tree. Eventually it flew nearer, to another tree where it perched at the very top and following an agonising ten minute wait, flew down into the berry tree and commenced consuming the white berries at a phenomenal rate. It gave me indigestion just watching the berries disappearing whole, down its throat.
It could be very acrobatic when feeding, contorting and stretching down to reach that particular berry that took its fancy, then finally sated, it just sat there, surrounded by numerous white berries, awaiting the next pangs of hunger. It was constantly looking around but only showed a mild concern at the close proximity of passing high speed trains and huge container lorries on the busy road. Otherwise it was content. Thankfully the trains and traffic were not sufficiently intrusive to persuade it to fly off.
It was a very confiding individual and allowed virtually point blank approach. Watching it perched and untroubled by our presence I was able to study it closely through my binoculars. It was obviously an adult, with bright yellow and white chevrons on its primaries and a broad yellow tip to its tail and has been reported as such. Sexing it is more difficult and in this case the main criterion for sexing it, namely the number of red waxy tips to its secondaries and tertials, were ambiguous as the number of tips fell between the parameters for both male and female.
They really are lovely birds with greyish brown body feathers smooth as silk, almost skin like and showing not a blemish. The head is similarly coloured but with a black bandit like mask stretching from the bill to encompass the eyes, giving the bird a fierce and intense look and, with that final touch, a natty white streak of eyeliner under each eye bringing - perfection!
An outrageous loose crest, like a cap but with shaggy feather tips was blown by the wind almost vertically on occasions and gave the bird an utterly distinctive profile.
Various other plumage features such as the large black bib on its throat and rufous undertail coverts broke up the uniformity of its body plumage. The flight feathers were black, edged bright yellow and tipped with white in the case of the primaries while the secondaries and tertial feathers showed white with red wax like tips as appendages. By examining my photos I counted six on each wing.
It could be very acrobatic when feeding, contorting and stretching down to reach that particular berry that took its fancy, then finally sated, it just sat there, surrounded by numerous white berries, awaiting the next pangs of hunger. It was constantly looking around but only showed a mild concern at the close proximity of passing high speed trains and huge container lorries on the busy road. Otherwise it was content. Thankfully the trains and traffic were not sufficiently intrusive to persuade it to fly off.
It was a very confiding individual and allowed virtually point blank approach. Watching it perched and untroubled by our presence I was able to study it closely through my binoculars. It was obviously an adult, with bright yellow and white chevrons on its primaries and a broad yellow tip to its tail and has been reported as such. Sexing it is more difficult and in this case the main criterion for sexing it, namely the number of red waxy tips to its secondaries and tertials, were ambiguous as the number of tips fell between the parameters for both male and female.
They really are lovely birds with greyish brown body feathers smooth as silk, almost skin like and showing not a blemish. The head is similarly coloured but with a black bandit like mask stretching from the bill to encompass the eyes, giving the bird a fierce and intense look and, with that final touch, a natty white streak of eyeliner under each eye bringing - perfection!
An outrageous loose crest, like a cap but with shaggy feather tips was blown by the wind almost vertically on occasions and gave the bird an utterly distinctive profile.
Various other plumage features such as the large black bib on its throat and rufous undertail coverts broke up the uniformity of its body plumage. The flight feathers were black, edged bright yellow and tipped with white in the case of the primaries while the secondaries and tertial feathers showed white with red wax like tips as appendages. By examining my photos I counted six on each wing.
It is relatively unusual to see a single Waxwing as these are very sociable birds and prefer company. A bit like a glamorous starling and similar in size they rejoice in moving around in flocks searching for berries wherever they can find them. The more there are of them in a flock the greater the chance of finding berries which at this late juncture must now be in short supply. I wonder if any other Waxwings will find and join up with this lone traveller?
For almost half an hour it remained in the berry tree. occasionally topping up with more berries. Then it flew off into the tall tree on the other side of the railway tracks and perched there, before moving to another tree further off.
Eventually it came back and perched in its favourite berry tree but the light was truly awful and I desisted from any thoughts of using the camera and just watched this beautiful and charismatic bird to my heart's content. An inhabitant of the huge pine forests of Scandinavia and Siberia, it looked so out of place at this mundane location in Middle England. It will not be long before it will be making a return journey over the North Sea and back to the northern pine forests, its natural home, having survived all the inherent dangers that have accompanied it on its migration and temporary residency on these shores.
The glamour of its presence and romance of its far away home remained with me despite its currently uninspiring surroundings.
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