Cedar Waxwings / I Hope You Dance

It was raining on Saturday morning as I left for my walk. The weather map looked like there would be a break in the rain soon, but that never happened. So I walked under my umbrella, with camera and tunes box.

As I rounded the corner at Blue Spruce and Hemlock, I saw a bunch of smallish birds in a tree in a friend's yard. I instantly noted the little head crests and the yellow tummies: cedar waxwings! Oh, joy!

The trees were just loaded with waxwings, but they were pretty far up. I snapped some distant shots. Then a whole group of them came down onto the ground to snarf up the berries there. More shots!

Conditions were challenging, though. As I snapped away at the treetops, I suddenly looked at my camera, and realized to my horror that its entire snout (it's a super-zoom so it goes ALLLLLLL the way out!) was soaking wet, in fact, dripping with rain! I grabbed a tissue out of my pocket, wiped it down quickly, continued on.

As I walked down Red Pine and went to turn onto Stonerow, I was photographing water droplets on some spiky vines. Heard a noise. Looked up. Guess who had just arrived. Yep, a whole bunch of waxwings. It almost seemed like they were following me on my walk!

And there, by a mailbox next to a farm field, I got some great close-up shots of the birds. I approached them slowly, under my pink umbrella. They were hungry, and they were focused on their berries, and not on me. By the time I was done, I was maybe 10 feet from the bushes they were in.

Cedar waxwings are some of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen. Let's start with the mask, shall we? They look like cute little robber barons. Their tummies look like hand painted pale yellow silk; some wore matching bloomers. They have little dabs of red and yellow on them. They have jaunty head crests. They are ADORABLE.

So for this blip, let me share my happiness. Here are some of the prettiest birds I've ever seen, eating berries in the rain. There are two above, facing different directions, with their piercing gazes fixed on BERRIES. And there is even one in the extras, dancing!  :-)

I've got two cedar waxwing photos, so here are two songs. First, for these little masked bandits, I wanted something from Fleetwood Mac's Behind the Mask, so here is Affairs of the Heart, with Stevie singing lead. Second, for my dancing bird in the extras, here is Lee Ann Womack, with I Hope You Dance.