Bohemian Waxwing Photoshoot

Since I made several large posts in the last week or two, the Churchill post has already been flushed to the next page! If you haven't read it yet, you can view it here: Churchill Day 4. Please comment or share.

Today we went with Christian Artuso on a rarity hunt, we found the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, but couldn't find the Varied Thrush and Townsend's Solitaire which we were also looking for. I will make a post fairly soon. I now have 200 species! We also saw some Hoary Redpolls, which I have probably seen before, but I didn't have it on my eBird lifelist, so that makes 201 sp.!

As I said in my Feathers on Friday, I knew one day a flock of birds would come to eat our berries in our forest. I predicted right, and about a hundred Bohemian Waxwings came to our yard for several days and ate all of them. I was able to do a few photoshoots and get some fantastic action shots of them eating berries. I was so close to them, there were always good photo opportunities. I took 500 pictures in 45 minutes. There were so many good ones, and this post was getting long, so I had to cut down the number, even though there are lots more good pictures.

Also, I have seen White-winged and Red Crossbills this year, a special treat, I have not seen them any other winters. There was a whole flock of Red Crossbills, but only two White-winged.

female White-winged Crossbill

 I was standing right under a tree with both White-winged Crossbills. I wasn't able to really get any very good pictures because the branches blocked them most of the time, but I managed to get this. Every minute some spruce cones would fall from a tree, bounce of a few branches and hit the ground. It was really fun watching them (though my neck got sore from staring up so long) pick at the cones and drop them.

White-winged Crossbill

 The next day I saw a flock of Red Crossbills. It seemed they were taking shifts with the White-winged, every day they alternated.

female Red Crossbill

 I was able to get some photos of them probing at a cone, sticking their beak in it.

female Red Crossbill

Red Crossbill

 I don't know if this is a dull male, a young male, or a female.

Red Crossbill

Then came the Bohemian Waxwings! I was on my way home from taking pictures of the Red Crossbills when I first spotted them.

I love this picture, three Bohemian Waxwings sitting side by side on a cold winter's day.

Three Bohemian Waxwings

 The next day I got some even better pictures.

A flock of BOWA in a tree.

I wandered around through the bushes getting as close as I could to them as they ate the berries.

Bohemian Waxwing swallowing berry "Gulp!"

Portrait shot - Bohemian Waxwing

 Reaching out to grab a berry.

Bohemian Waxwing

 I love this shot with it's wings spread wide, and in focus.

Bohemian Waxwing

 And the occasional chickadee was around.

Black-capped Chickadee

 I also love this one.

Bohemian Waxwing

 And this one.

Bohemian Waxwing

 And this one... Well, you get the picture!

Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing

 Tossing up a berry in the air, I love this one too (as you can guess)!

Bohemian Waxwing

 Flying away with the berry.

Bohemian Waxwing

 Berry in mouth.

Bohemian Waxwing

 A fluffy little fellow.

Bohemian Waxwing

 Just lifting off.

Bohemian Waxwing

 Steadying itself in a tree.

Bohemian Waxwing

This one is just grabbing a berry.

Bohemian Waxwing

These were maybe some of the best pictures I've ever taken! Close anyway.