David Element
Wildlife
Photography and Digital Video Images
__________________________________________________________________________________________________Birds 56 – Bohemian Waxwings
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus;
REDWING Turdus iliacus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWING Bombycilla garrulus
BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS Bombycilla garrulus
- Bohemian Waxwings
Bombycilla garrulus are prized
sightings in the UK. The appearance of these beautiful birds as irruptive
winter visitors is dictated by a lack of available food and
over-population in their usual habitat at the far northern extremes of
Europe. It also depends on a good food supply when they arrive, otherwise
they will move on. Small numbers probably reach the northern and eastern
coastal regions most years but if the conditions are right (as has
happened in the cold winter of 2010, in 2012, 2019 and 2023) then they can
turn up in spectacular numbers anywhere in the country with some flocks
numbering in the hundreds. These birds seem to epitomise cold winter
weather and the sudden appearance and sound of a flock of Waxwings
wheeling about overhead as it prepares to descend to feed is a truly
evocative experience for the lucky observer. Sometimes a single bird will
arrive first as an apparent lookout prior to being joined by the
remainder. Their plumage is so dense that the structure of the individual
feathers covering the body can scarcely be seen. This of course has a
purpose as superb natural insulation, trapping warm air-pockets and
keeping out the cold. The crest on the head resembles the stroke of a
paint brush even in close-up photographs. Waxwings feed voraciously on
berries, hence their attraction to otherwise unattractive urban car parks
where ornamental berry-bearing trees have been planted, and a flock is
capable of completely stripping the berry crop of a tree or bush with
great speed. Personal observations would suggest that if the berries are
small enough to be swallowed whole, as for example might be the case with Rowan Sorbus spp.
(ornamental species are popular), Cotoneaster spp. or Pyracantha spp., then an
individual bird might swallow a berry per second until it is incapable of
accommodating any more. This activity in multiple means that ten birds
might swallow 100 berries in not much over 10 seconds! Larger berries
(Jovita Kaunang kindly identified the tree in the 7th photograph as a
probable Chinese Crabapple Malus hupehensis)
require more work as they need to be pecked at, although from the
bird-watching perspective either option will provide plenty of
entertainment. If a berry has already been opened, for example by a Common Blackbird Turdus merula,
then this will probably be targeted first. However photography is easier
if larger berries are being taken as the birds need to perch for longer to
eat them and this causes some of the territorial posturing shown here with
the display of the full gape warning off rivals. From necessity the
members of a flock will retreat to a high roost some distance away once
replete so that the berries might be digested, and their plumage preened.
Therefore, periods of activity are spread throughout much of the short
winter day and patience may be required by the observer waiting for them
to reappear when they are hungry once more. The bright colours of the wing
feathers develop with age and they are more prominent in mature males.
Females and juveniles are perhaps slightly more subdued but to be honest
trying to sex individuals is probably far from the mind of most observers
as they are simply happy to stand back and enthusiastically watch a rare
and rewarding spectacle. There is some evidence to suggest that
invertebrate prey is also being taken, and that pair-bonding may be
reinforced by the altruistic feeding of females by their mates. Five of
the photographs, taken in sequence, illustrate aphids being collected from
a bud and given to a second bird. The detail of the ‘wax’ wing feather
structures is evident in several of the photographs of preening behaviour.
A few images have been cropped.
·
David
has uploaded some short films of Bohemian Waxwings to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4AirIEc0NoddsGpkBFETQeV20laCuBJz .
·
Highly
recommended is this lovely film of Bohemian Waxwings by Knut Fugl: https://t.co/7mEWiLi1Wo?amp=1.
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