Cedar Waxwings

Views: 139
Added: Fri Sep 12th 6:33pm
Posted in: Living

• » print
• » report
• » email

There was no end in sight to the household details to get to after my daughter's recent wedding, but as I stepped up to the kitchen sink, through the window I could see dozens of like-sized birds silhouetted against the light grey sky in a dead tree off to the side of the yard.  I keep a pair of binoculars off to the side of the sink as an essential "kitchen supply" (and a bird guide handy in a nearby drawer too), and I put the dish cloth aside in favor of using both hands to focus the lenses.  Then I abandoned the sink altogether in favor of moving out to the deck and getting comfortable while I watched. 

I had a hunch they'd be cedar waxwings, and I was right.  I quit counting when I hit eight-five of them spread casually between four dead trees, since they wouldn't all sit still long enough to get a perfect beak count.  There are dozens of varieties of birds that come to my feeders on a daily  basis--chickadees, orioles, cardinals, woodpeckers,  hummingbirds, nuthatches, the list goes on and on.  The deck seems like Grand Central Station some days.  The cedar waxwings are never among them...but I see them still turning up in fall by the dozens, watching safely from a distance as I pass underneath, highlighted against the sky about fifteen feet above me. 

Given a choice between housework and birdwatching, the birds always win out with me.  Those dust bunnies will still be there waiting for my attention in the dead of winter...but a bird on the wing brings a sudden burst of joy to the heart!  And if you need anymore proof that a day spent with a pair of binoculars in the woods beats just about everything else, read..."Marsh Madness".