Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Starling sized

On 22 February 2015, on my way out of Fish Creek Park, an enormous flock of Bohemian Waxwings swarmed around the tall trees along the edge of the road. Hundreds of them landed at the tops of these trees and then they would swoop down to the snow-covered ground and eat the snow for a few seconds before flying to the other side of the road and back again. "Waxwings often drink water or eat snow in winter, since the sugar in their fruit diet tends to dehydrate the birds through an osmotic effect. In the summer, the fruits are juicier and water is less of a problem" (from Wikipedia). These Bohemian Waxwings visit us in winter and then fly north for the summer, to breed. Here, in summer, we get the Cedar Waxwings instead. I pulled over to try and get a shot or two - quite the feeling to have so many of these beautiful, sleek birds flying around you when you are standing there. Earlier in the afternoon, this mass of birds landed in the parking lot trees. Interesting to hear the loud "whoosh" when they all took off so close to where we were standing. "The name "Bohemian" refers to the nomadic movements of winter flocks. It comes from the inhabitants of Bohemia, meaning those that live an unconventional lifestyle or like that of gypsies. The Bohemian Waxwing does not hold breeding territories, probably because the fruits it eats are abundant, but available only for short periods. One consequence of this non-territorial lifestyle is that it has no true song. It does not need one to defend a territory." From AllAboutBirds. "The Bohemian waxwing's call is a high trill sirrrr. It is less wavering and lower-pitched than that of the cedar waxwing. Other calls are just variants of the main vocalisation; a quieter version is used by chicks to call parents, and courtship calls, also given during nest construction, have a particularly large frequency range. Although not a call as such, when a flock takes off or lands, the wings make a distinctive rattling sound that can be heard 30 m (100 ft) away." From Wikipedia. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bohemian_waxwing/lifehistory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_waxwing

If only birds would all sit and face the same direction at the same time, lol. At least two of these Bohemian Waxwings gave me a nice pose for a split second. They are such beautiful, sleek birds. It was cold yesterday morning, when I met friends for a three hour walk at Griffith Woods. Temperature was -10 to -4°C. Eventually, the warmth of the sun could just be felt, which always makes such a welcome difference. Not a huge variety of birds - we saw so many Bohemian Waxwings (a total of 600+) flying overhead and sometimes landing near the tops of very tall Spruce trees. This was the best I could do, 48x zoom then cropped. 10000birds.com/cedar-waxwing-vs-bohemian-waxwing.htm Canada Goose-110 Mallard-10 Bald Eagle-1 juv. Merlin-1 Downy Woodpecker-1 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-2 Northern Shrike-1, chasing a Blue Jay Blue Jay-4+ Black-billed Magpie-7 Common Raven-3+ Black-capped Chickadee-25 Boreal Chickadee-4+ Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-3 Golden-crowned Kinglet-1 Bohemian Waxwing-600+. Pine Grosbeak-4 White-winged Crossbill-4+ Common Redpoll-2 House Sparrow-1 On a totally different note, I had a wonderful surprise yesterday. After receiving a notificiation e-mail telling me that someone had 'buzzed' me on the FriendsReunited website that I had joined quite a few years ago, I discovered two words, "Remember me?" To my amazement, it was from someone who had been in the class I taught for one year in England (my very first year of teaching, in a mixed class of Grade 5/6 (equivalent). He had been a delightful, quiet, shy boy and I remembered hm as if it was yesterday : ) I am so impressed with what he has done with his life - I'm still in awe today! Most of his 36 years of working were spent teaching. When he sent me the message yesterday, he had just finished taking part in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - the boat he was on came in third place out of twelve! Such a good, good feeling to hear that a student from so many years ago has used his life so well!

On 22 February 2015, on my way out of Fish Creek Park, an enormous flock of Bohemian Waxwings swarmed around the tall coniferous trees along the edge of the road. Hundreds of them landed at the tops of these trees and then they would swoop down to the snow-covered ground and eat the snow for a few seconds before flying to the other side of the road and back again. Unfortunately, most of them were in the shade when on the ground. "Waxwings often drink water or eat snow in winter, since the sugar in their fruit diet tends to dehydrate the birds through an osmotic effect. In the summer, the fruits are juicier and water is less of a problem" (from Wikipedia). These Bohemian Waxwings visit us in winter and then fly north for the summer, to breed. Here, in summer, we get the Cedar Waxwings instead. I pulled over to try and get a shot or two - quite the feeling to have so many of these beautiful, sleek birds flying around you when you are standing there. Earlier in the afternoon, this mass of birds landed in the parking lot trees. Interesting to hear the loud "whoosh" when they all took off so close to where we were standing. "The name "Bohemian" refers to the nomadic movements of winter flocks. It comes from the inhabitants of Bohemia, meaning those that live an unconventional lifestyle or like that of gypsies. The Bohemian Waxwing does not hold breeding territories, probably because the fruits it eats are abundant, but available only for short periods. One consequence of this non-territorial lifestyle is that it has no true song. It does not need one to defend a territory." From AllAboutBirds. "The Bohemian waxwing's call is a high trill sirrrr. It is less wavering and lower-pitched than that of the cedar waxwing. Other calls are just variants of the main vocalisation; a quieter version is used by chicks to call parents, and courtship calls, also given during nest construction, have a particularly large frequency range. Although not a call as such, when a flock takes off or lands, the wings make a distinctive rattling sound that can be heard 30 m (100 ft) away." From Wikipedia. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bohemian_waxwing/lifehistory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_waxwing

Five afternoons ago, 22 February 2015, on my way out of Fish Creek Park, an enormous flock of Bohemian Waxwings swarmed around the tall coniferous trees along the edge of the road. Hundreds of them landed at the tops of these trees and then they would swoop down to the snow-covered ground and eat the snow for a few seconds before flying to the other side of the road and back again. "Waxwings often drink water or eat snow in winter, since the sugar in their fruit diet tends to dehydrate the birds through an osmotic effect. In the summer, the fruits are juicier and water is less of a problem" (from Wikipedia). These Bohemian Waxwings visit us in winter and then fly north for the summer, to breed. Here, in summer, we get the Cedar Waxwings instead. I pulled over to try and get a shot or two - quite the feeling to have so many of these beautiful, sleek birds flying around you when you are standing there. Earlier in the afternoon, this mass of birds landed in the parking lot trees. Interesting to hear the loud "whoosh" when they all took off so close to where we were standing. "The name "Bohemian" refers to the nomadic movements of winter flocks. It comes from the inhabitants of Bohemia, meaning those that live an unconventional lifestyle or like that of gypsies. The Bohemian Waxwing does not hold breeding territories, probably because the fruits it eats are abundant, but available only for short periods. One consequence of this non-territorial lifestyle is that it has no true song. It does not need one to defend a territory." From AllAboutBirds. "The Bohemian waxwing's call is a high trill sirrrr. It is less wavering and lower-pitched than that of the cedar waxwing. Other calls are just variants of the main vocalisation; a quieter version is used by chicks to call parents, and courtship calls, also given during nest construction, have a particularly large frequency range. Although not a call as such, when a flock takes off or lands, the wings make a distinctive rattling sound that can be heard 30 m (100 ft) away." From Wikipedia. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bohemian_waxwing/lifehistory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_waxwing

Three afternoons ago, 22 February 2015, on my way out of Fish Creek Park, an enormous flock of Bohemian Waxwings swarmed around the tall coniferous trees along the edge of the road. Hundreds of them landed at the tops of these trees and then they would swoop down to the snow-covered ground and eat the snow for a few seconds before flying to the other side of the road and back again. "Waxwings often drink water or eat snow in winter, since the sugar in their fruit diet tends to dehydrate the birds through an osmotic effect. In the summer, the fruits are juicier and water is less of a problem" (from Wikipedia). I pulled over to try and get a shot or two - quite the feeling to have so many of these beautiful, sleek birds flying around you when you are standing there. Earlier in the afternoon, this mass of birds landed in the parking lot trees. Interesting to hear the loud "whoosh" when they all took off so close to where we were standing. "The name "Bohemian" refers to the nomadic movements of winter flocks. It comes from the inhabitants of Bohemia, meaning those that live an unconventional lifestyle or like that of gypsies. The Bohemian Waxwing does not hold breeding territories, probably because the fruits it eats are abundant, but available only for short periods. One consequence of this non-territorial lifestyle is that it has no true song. It does not need one to defend a territory." From AllAboutBirds. "The Bohemian waxwing's call is a high trill sirrrr. It is less wavering and lower-pitched than that of the cedar waxwing. Other calls are just variants of the main vocalisation; a quieter version is used by chicks to call parents, and courtship calls, also given during nest construction, have a particularly large frequency range. Although not a call as such, when a flock takes off or lands, the wings make a distinctive rattling sound that can be heard 30 m (100 ft) away." From Wikipedia. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bohemian_waxwing/lifehistory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_waxwing

Yesterday afternoon, on my way out of Fish Creek Park, an enormous flock of Bohemian Waxwings swarmed around the tall coniferous trees along the edge of the road. Hundreds of them landed at the tops of these trees and then they would swoop down to the snow-covered ground and "feed" for a few seconds before flying to the other side of the road and back again. "Waxwings often drink water or eat snow in winter, since the sugar in their fruit diet tends to dehydrate the birds through an osmotic effect. In the summer, the fruits are juicier and water is less of a problem." (from Wikipedia). These Bohemian Waxwings visit us in winter and then fly north for the summer, to breed. Here, in summer, we get the Cedar Waxwings instead. I pulled over to try and get a shot or two - quite the feeling to have so many of these beautiful, sleek birds flying around you when you are standing there. Earlier in the afternoon, this mass of birds landed in the parking lot trees. Interesting to hear the loud "whoosh" when they all took off so close to where we were standing. "The name "Bohemian" refers to the nomadic movements of winter flocks. It comes from the inhabitants of Bohemia, meaning those that live an unconventional lifestyle or like that of gypsies. The Bohemian Waxwing does not hold breeding territories, probably because the fruits it eats are abundant, but available only for short periods. One consequence of this non-territorial lifestyle is that it has no true song. It does not need one to defend a territory." From AllAboutBirds. "The Bohemian waxwing's call is a high trill sirrrr. It is less wavering and lower-pitched than that of the cedar waxwing. Other calls are just variants of the main vocalisation; a quieter version is used by chicks to call parents, and courtship calls, also given during nest construction, have a particularly large frequency range. Although not a call as such, when a flock takes off or lands, the wings make a distinctive rattling sound that can be heard 30 m (100 ft) away." From Wikipedia. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bohemian_waxwing/lifehistory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_waxwing