waxwing
Waxwing 10/3/2001

Waxwings


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On the morning of Saturday 10th March 2001 I had a big surprise. I woke up to what sounded like a duck quacking outside. Thinking it could be the return of our female mallard who visited us last summer, I rushed downstairs and opened the front door. No sign of a duck. I was just about to come in again when, to my astonishment, there was a whirr of wings and eight waxwings landed on our cotoneaster bushes just in front of me, less than three yards away. I couldn't believe my eyes!  We had heard of waxwings being seen in the Glasgow area recently, and had been keeping a lookout for them, but to see them on our own doorstep at that time in the morning was more than I could take in.  I called Fred to come and have a look too. Later they were joined by others, and there were eventually about 35 which stopped for several hours. In the morning we went to the supermarket, and I bought some new batteries for my flash so I could take some photos. To my amazement the birds came back after we got home so I was able to take photos with the flash straight away.

They returned on Sunday morning and finished off most of the remainder of our cotoneaster berries.  I watched one bird eat 13 berries in quick succession - it must have been in less than a minute.  Kerry, the little girl who lives across the road from us, was looking out of the window at them with great delight. Even though she is only five years old, she could see that they were something a bit different.  Not only do they look exotic, but they are also extremely tame and didn't seem to mind my getting quite close. After they had gone, we had to go out briefly in the car. When we came back the waxwings had returned.  They didn't seem to mind either the car or us, and only flew off briefly when Fred closed the car door next to them.

I saw them again on Monday, but they didn't return to our garden, having already eaten almost all of our cotoneaster berries. However, I tied up some cotoneaster prunings to try and encourage them back. We continued to see them frequently, often in our garden, up to and including 29th March.

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