Hundreds of Waxwings Diverge Upon Rowans

 Every couple of years or so we are lucky to have these beautiful visitors briefly stop by.  Sunday afternoon was one such day.

 These are cedar waxwings.  They come in flocks, as you can see from the following photos, to feast upon the berries of Rowans (mountain ash trees).

 It does seem as if there are some larger birds mixed amongst the members of these flocks, which suggests there are likely Bohemian Waxwings (the larger of the birds) intermingled amongst the Cedar Waxwings.

 Bohemian Waxwings traverse all the continents south of the arctic circle but stay in the northernmost areas such as Britain, Canada, Russia; see Bohemian Waxwings.  Cedar Waxwings tend to stay in North America, often migrating south for the winter.  See Cedar Waxwing.

 They came in flocks, one after another, diverging upon the Rowan (European Mountain Ash).

 It lasted only minutes and then they flew off and another flock visited and then followed in fashion.

 Many berries remain on the mountain ash.  I do hope they will return so I might get a better photo.

It is exciting to see these lovely birds with their tufted heads, yellow tips on their tails and dashes of red upon their wings.  Such a flurry of activity and then there were none.  For a comparison of the two waxwings visit here.