Waxwings in Leicestershire

Waxwing, Burbage, Leics.

Waxwing

Song Thrush, the tongues of many birds contains 5 bones which accounts for the 'jointed' appearance shown here which allows the thrush to manipulate the berry.

Waxwing

Waxwing, showing off with two berries

Waxwing

Sunday 9th December 2010

Getting preoccupied with Waxwings I'm afraid. They seems to becoming as much a part of the British winter bird scene as a Robin perched on an old garden spade. The big advantage of Waxwings is they come to you or at least a Rowan tree near you. Which with the driving conditions we have across the country at the moment is no bad thing. So as my nearest Waxwing location was at Burbage, Leicestershire I decided to have another go having drawn a blank yesterday. Again no Waxwings but my disappointment was tempered by meeting up with localish birder Carl Baggott. No substitute for a tree full of Waxwings but nice to meet up with an old friend. Apparently a flock of 45 or so had been seen that morning but had been flushed by a Sparrowhawk and so were unlikely to return for some time. I went home to take Jan into town to find we had both forgotten a date for coffee with some friends. Oops and apologies. After our belated visit I went back to Burbage. This time there were Waxwings about I counted 23 although numbers fluctuated.