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Last week I wrote a short post about a visit I made to New York’s Central Park with Corey, in which I referred to a close encounter with a small flock of one of my favourite birds: Cedar Waxwings Bombycilla cedrorum. To save myself a little time (a two-year-old is demanding my attention) I’m going […]

Early April in the northern hemisphere (or more specifically, April in Central Park) is never quite as you imagine it. It’s neither as warm as you were sure it was going to be, nor as bright. Plants emerge more tentatively than you remember, the breeze is more cutting, the light is just a little flatter. […]

Last year Mike wrote a superb and typically lyrical post asking “What is a Waxwing?“. I’m not going to even attempt to better his phrasing by covering the same ground he went over so eloquently - if you haven’t read his post yet click the link you’ve just hurried past immediately - but I do […]

After my last attempt at getting the perfect shot of a Cedar Waxwing in flight I vowed to try again so I was pleased to discover several waxwings have made the duck pond at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs their flycatching headquarters. I spent an entire lunch break yesterday trying to get the perfect flight […]

If you live on any decent-sized landmass anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, chances are waxwings occasionally wing your way. Waxwings are dapper passerine birds that breed in northern forests and winter where ever they please. Birds of the genus Bombycilla are primarily frugivorous, sometimes to excess, but will happily feast on flying insects in summer.
Waxwings […]

I know this isn’t a seasonally relevant addition to 10,000 Birds, but Corey’s great post about flycatching Cedar Waxwings yesterday reminded me of an encounter I had two years ago with the Cedar’s larger and more northerly cousins - the Bohemian Waxwing (or just THE Waxwing as we lazy Brits tend to call it). Common […]

Though Cedar Waxwings are known for their preference for eating fruit, they are actually also accomplished flycatchers. Daisy and I had the great pleasure of watching a flock of them showcasing their aerial abilities the other day at Five Rivers. Of course, I took a ton of pictures.
But as is often the case […]