Unusual visitors

[Bob]

 

Mrs and I were downtown the other day and spotted a flock of bohemian waxwings working over a crabapple tree on the main drag right in front of the mall.

First ones I've seen in years and biggest flock of them I've ever seen. Between 30 and 40 birds.

[Greencoachdog]

They're beautiful birds!

We get quite a few of them down here, they eat Holly berries and Bradford pear fruit. Sometimes the berries have fermented and they get drunk and stagger around and fly into windows and walls. The little sots!!!

[Joey]

Just the fact that you knew what kind of birds they were is a little scary Bob

 

Very cool looking birds for sure.

 

Joey

[Gerritt]

Mmmmmm fake pigeon...

 

 

G....

[Bob]

GCD, I wasn't aware they ranged that far south. Cedar waxwings maybe?

Joey, I've been a birdwatcher for a long time, maybe 40 years or so. I could tell from a distance they were waxwings but had to get closer to tell they were bohemians. Funny, I had to run home to get my camera and hope they'd still be there when I got back.

Gerritt, they're not quite pigeon size but close. Hope you all had a great Christmas.

[lew]

Nice picture Bob, they sort of look like a Cardinal with that tuft of feathers on their head.

 

I've had a feeder in the yard for a couple years now and really enjoy seeing all the different critters that stop by to eat. I've got a huge flock of mourning doves that feed here consistently, and yesterday I counted (as close as possible) 47 doves eating at the same time, and right now, as I'm typing, there are about 25 out there. Costs us alot of $$$$ but it's definetely worth in in my opinion.

 

My only problem now is I'm starting to get some pigeons dropping by, and sometimes see 7-8 in the yard eating the food, but I guess we have to take the bad with the good

[camillj]

Could be worse Lew ... we ditched ours when we found out it was attracting (and feeding) rats !

[lew]

Could be worse Lew ... we ditched ours when we found out it was attracting (and feeding) rats !

 

Yikes, that would be my last day too, Jon, guess pigeons don't seem so bad after that.

[Spiel]

....Thanks Bob, now I'll be spending the rest of the day trying to see if we have those in Hamilton.

[mistyriver1]

Waxwings, so that's what they are called. I've had those guys in our backyard as well and wondered what they were.

[Mike Pike]

Pretty cool sighting Bob. I'll bet you get to see lots of neat wild birds up your way.

 

And Spiel, I've never spotted any Waxwings in our fair city BUT I did see several of them out the window of where I work in Waterloo, so you never know...

[jjcanoe]

I also thought they were cedar waxwings but down here in the banana belt we get different birds than you do in the north.

 

jjcanoe

[Bob]

Cedar waxwings have a lighter coloured breast and don't have the colourful stripes at the wing tips. They're also not quite as large as the bohemians. One of the most interesting and tamest birds we see here is the pine grosbeak. One landed right on milady's head a few weeks back but didn't stay long enough for a picture. We've been feeding and watching birds for many years. We do see quite a few mourning doves, evening grosbeaks, goldfinches, purple finches, several different kinds of sparrows, hairy woodpeckers and once in a while, a pileated woodpecker. Most persistent are the chickadees and nuthatches.

Lew, you're right, it's costly but provides hours of entertainment.

 

Edited December 27, 2007 by Bob

[topraider]

Sometimes a hawk will stake out a feeder, which will cause the pigeons and doves to move on. Here in the city of ottawa, there are quite a few resident hawks, and even a few falcons, that keep the pigeons on their toes. I have not been lucky yet to see a Coopers hawk smash a pigeon.

 

This year, there was a failure in the seed crop that caused the finches (i.e. pine grosbeak) and bohemian waxwings to vacate and move south out of the boreal forest, and they will keep moving until they find food. You may see them this winter, but maybe not again for a few years.

[Bob]

Yep, we're in the transition zone between Boreal and Great Lakes forest. You can see quite a difference in the bush just driving from here down to hwy 17. Alternatively, you don't have to drive too far north to be in true boreal forest. Pine grosbeaks are pretty common here, we had 3 or 4 families hanging around our feeders most of the summer. The bohemian waxwings have a sort of west to east migration, they breed in Alaska, NWT and northern BC mostly and then migrate east, some as far as the Maritimes. They don't have set migration routes so you never know where you might see them. As stated, they follow the food supply. Guess they liked the abundance of crabapples we had this year.