It's the birds...

I thought they were Cedar Waxwings, but a higher authority decreed "Bohemian....they are Bohemian Waxwings....". So, I concur. And after looking them up for some prolonged period, I also found out that both males and females have identical plumage making identification of the sexes "impossible". Perhaps the expert eye could catch it? Regardless, some interesting evolutionary quirks with that scenario.

I must now, then, confess my adoration - breaching upon obsessive admiration - of these little species. Well, all waxwings, to be precise. It is their soft plumage, their tender cacophonous trills and of course their calm colours that make them so wonderful. Ecologically - not going there today.

They announced their winter habitat to us at home early in the season by defecating all over our house and front windows. I would assume this would make most upset, but their winter feed - blood red berries from the myriad trees around our area - makes this defecation quite pretty. A somewhat luminous purple-violet-red set of splatters now adorns our abode. Quite pretty, actually.

But the real reason for me taking pictures today was more their action. They congregate upon the tree tops in seemingly three defined groups - these congregational trees are not berry producing (in fact, they are dead pines). One group will leave, flock to another tree - wait less than a minute eating berries - and fly back. A second group will flock upon the first groups return - wait less than a minute eating berries - and fly back. This continues as the concerted songs maintain throughout the tree tops. It is credibly a sharing of a resource in groups of, what appears to me, something that is not in short supply. These berry trees are everywhere, yet they - in turn - share the feed of one tree at a time. Afterwards the whole flock moves on to another perch, and starts this habit all over again. Curious, that.

Above: Birds.
Below: Birds.