Waxwings in garden

**nemosia** · 31-Oct-10, 14:37

The big flock was still at Olrig this morning.

**Kenn** · 31-Oct-10, 16:31

Yehaaaaa.......does a little jig,finally got to see them.
Small flock up near Olrig House and another down at Castlehill.

**Ricco** · 31-Oct-10, 16:51

Originally Posted by nemosia

How far south are you? A few waxwings have made it to Kent and South coast of Sussex.

Oh wow! There is hope for me yet. When I lived in Canada they were my fav winter bird. (in the summer it was the Flicker and the Golden Oriole... oooh, and the hummingbird)

**Scunner** · 31-Oct-10, 17:42

Are they all around the coastal areas, or can anyone tell me if they have moved inland yet. I'm still waiting to see them, but will be forced to go out on the road tomorrow.

**kas** · 31-Oct-10, 21:22

Not sure how widespread they are inland but if you can get to Castletown tomorrow morning then I would go. I spent most of the day there and it was quite something to see. The best views was in the small wooded area opposite the Heritage Centre, and there is still plenty berries in there for them if they stick around.. The telephone wires between the football field and Heritage centre was full of them. Good luck if you do try.

**singysmum** · 31-Oct-10, 21:24

We moved into our house 4 years ago and there was no garden or trees at that time. I have spent the intervening time trying to make a garden in order to attract birds and wildlife. On Wednesday I saw a bird feeding on the few cotoneaster berries that have grown and was amazed to see it was a Waxwing! Makes all the hard work worth it even if we only had 2 of them - they are so lovely. Fingers crossed for more visitors next year.

**Liz** · 01-Nov-10, 00:04

Originally Posted by singysmum

We moved into our house 4 years ago and there was no garden or trees at that time. I have spent the intervening time trying to make a garden in order to attract birds and wildlife. On Wednesday I saw a bird feeding on the few cotoneaster berries that have grown and was amazed to see it was a Waxwing! Makes all the hard work worth it even if we only had 2 of them - they are so lovely. Fingers crossed for more visitors next year.

Like you I've been making the garden attractive to birds and wildlife and have a huge cotoneaster hedge but it has never flowered and so no berrie.

Wonder why?

Lovely that you got a couple of Waxwings in your garden!

**radiohead** · 01-Nov-10, 01:30

had 4 in the garden today, but not as clourful as the photos....is it a maturity thing????

**Aaldtimer** · 01-Nov-10, 04:21

Originally Posted by Ricco

Oh wow! There is hope for me yet. When I lived in Canada they were my fav winter bird. (in the summer it was the Flicker and the Golden Oriole... oooh, and the hummingbird)

Waxwings in Canada?

**Pterodroma** · 01-Nov-10, 12:04

Two species of Waxwing occur in Canada. The species we have over here, which in North America is called Bohemian Waxwing, and the slightly smaller Cedar Waxwing which has occurred in the UK as an extremely rare vagrant.

In North America Bohemian Waxwing has the more northerly and westerly breeding area and in winter gets as far south as Colorado, while the Cedar Waxwing breeds across southern Canada and northern USA and reaches Mexico in the winter.

Ricco is correct!

Pterodroma

**nemosia** · 01-Nov-10, 13:19

Originally Posted by Pterodroma

Ricco is correct!
Pterodroma

However I think Golden Oriole probably refers to Baltimore Oriole although Bullock's and Orchard both make it into Canada. Am I right Ricco? These are icterids, a different family to our Eurasian Golden Oriole.

**nemosia** · 01-Nov-10, 13:30

As for the waxwings, there were around 600 at Castlehill at first light but the majority had flown off to the west by 08:00h. A few lingered for a couple of hours and there were just 5 at Olrig. Hopefully that's not the last we see of them this winter though.

**Skifter** · 01-Nov-10, 16:17

I passed by the Castletown Heritage Centre abot 11.30 this morning and there were well over a 100 waxwings in the trees beside it.

**nemosia** · 01-Nov-10, 16:21

Originally Posted by Skifter

I passed by the Castletown Heritage Centre abot 11.30 this morning and there were well over a 100 waxwings in the trees beside it.

Excellent. Thought there would be a few hanging around somewhere. They've made it into the winter atlas in good numbers.

**cuddlepop** · 01-Nov-10, 16:42

There were about 20 of them flying about Portree most of last week
.
Think they've had their fill of berries though as there's no sign of them today.

Beautiful sight,absolutely no road sense,terrified we were going to hit the ones walking on the road.

**Aaldtimer** · 01-Nov-10, 17:48

Originally Posted by Pterodroma

Two species of Waxwing occur in Canada. The species we have over here, which in North America is called Bohemian Waxwing, and the slightly smaller Cedar Waxwing which has occurred in the UK as an extremely rare vagrant.

In North America Bohemian Waxwing has the more northerly and westerly breeding area and in winter gets as far south as Colorado, while the Cedar Waxwing breeds across southern Canada and northern USA and reaches Mexico in the winter.

Ricco is correct!

Pterodroma

Thanks for info Ptero, very interesting.

**Ricco** · 01-Nov-10, 21:07

Originally Posted by Aaldtimer

Waxwings in Canada?

Ooh, aye! Over there they are called Cedar Waxwings.

**annemarie482** · 01-Nov-10, 22:51

there must have been around 20 in my mums garden in keiss this morning!

**Violetsky** · 03-Nov-10, 12:10

Just saw 3 Waxwings in my garden in Groats
Have never seen anything but the normal sparrows, starlings, robins etc before
So I just had to log on and let you all know, as if it was not for this post I would not have had a clue what they were - Thank you