Spring bird sightings.

The weather today has gone from dark and gloomy to totally perfect. I got a few wild bird photos.

Afternoon visit by a large flock of Cedar Waxwings.

They were preening and naping. Not at all afraid of us, but high up in the trees.

On the bird feeder, Brown headed Cowbirds and a couple of Red Wing Blackbird females.

A white Ibis

A couple of juvie white Ibis.

A lone juvie.

A listening Robin.

Several White Ibis and a lone Snowy Egret.

We also saw about 20 Glossy Ibis, too far away, and a distant Rosette Spoonbill.

All .. are nice shots trois .. but LUV them Cedar Waxwings grouped in that 1st pic!!!

- Magpye

Your place must be next to Paradise! What a great collection of birds.

We have a great selection of birds, not all in mating plumage though. That is the largest flock od Cedar Waxwings I have ever seen. 3 trees full. and a few leftovers.

Thanks Magpye and se-eds. It turned out to be a glorious day.

Wow, that's alot of Cedar Waxwings Trois. I think they are just the sleekest looking birds. Not a feather out of place. What kind of tree is in the first photo. It looks like berries or tiny apples? You have had a very busy day of birding. What a great way to pass a day.

I love cedar waxwings. we get them in the fall, but never that many in one tree (looks like the city CW vs. the country ones here!) I have done paintings of cedar waxwings. They are always a joy to see...

That is a Chinese Tallow Tree. The seeds are covered with a White wax that many birds feed on in the winter. These birds were just resting and naping.

Most of these photos were in my yard except the Ibis which were about a half mile away.

WOW trois what great bird photos, I think I too liked the CWW best,, they are a really beautiful bird. Haven't seen any here yet, doesn't mean they haven't been here just that i didn't see them. DonnaS

Never in my life have I seen a "flock" of cedar waxwings like that! I stared at that picture for the longest time :) Of course, I'm looking for birds far more these days than ever before, maybe they've been around and I've just not noticed them before. This year, though, I'm practically driving off the road trying to ID birds...LOL :) Great photos!

Jacci

Thanks Donna and Jacci. I have only seen a few, mostly a single, until yesterday. It took me a few minutes to realize what I was seeing. Almost all faced me the entire time making the yellow tip of the tail hard to spot.

trois

WoW! What a terrific range of birds you got there in one day! Amazing!

-Julie

We have a flock about this size come thru this time every year(CWW) ..Haven't seen them yet, but have been gone from the house more than usual.. They also make the stop onto some of our Chinese Tallow Trees, They will clean it of seeds in no time flat.. Also, we have Wood Stork's that make one or 2 appearances at our ponds each spring...Never see them any other time.. We have the egret's, herons and such year round... Great photos..

Larkie

Thanks, Larkie and Julie! We get a lot of variety. Today several thousand Purple Grackels, Bronze variety. They are very restless, constantly moving.

This message was edited Feb 28, 2005 7:45 PM

Fab-tastic photos!

Thanks, dovey.

Trois those purple grackles must've been a sight to see too! We've got Tristram's Grackels http://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/picpages/pic190-100-1.html in the south of Israel. I think they are as cool as the crows :-)

-Julie

We have several kinds of Grackles year round. This is the only time of the yeat they flock up in numbers. I like the Great Tails most, as they are real show offs during the mating season.

Got to know great tails from AZ when I lived there. They are very social. They had many lively conversations with me. There was one in a tree by my parking lot everyday. Great variety of noises. Do you have cactus wrens there in Santa Fe? They are also very chatty.
Salvia, Tristram's is a trim beauty-love the orange. Do you see them?

We have little brown "house Wrens" that live under our stairs and scold every time we use them.

We just had house wrens last year for the first time!! Funny, they started out under the porch (near my stairs) but moved into a wren house when they discovered it and also all the bluebird boxes. They sang all summer! I bought a great wren bottle in Williamsburg, VA. also. It comes out from the barn wall. I didn't find the right place for it in time for eggs, but someone loaded it up with twigs.

They are industrious little fellers.

Gosh and I'd be happy spotting one CWW. It's on my hopeful list! Great shots, Trois

Thanks. this is the first year we have seen more than one or two. They just love the Chinese Tallow trees for that wax finish.

LOL

I saw lots of cedar waxwings in FL on the westcoast and panhandle. Look for flocks in trees- birds sit vertically on branches-they like to be on top a lot so they are easy to spot with binocs. They are almost never alone.

Lots of robin flocks here today in the snow storm!