Return Of The Waxwings

The weather today here in Reading was beautiful once again and I decided to head out at about 2:00 to go and see if the Waxwings were back around the area I had seen them before. I had originally thought they must have moved on, as I hadn't seen them for a few days. But someone reported seeing them yesterday afternoon. I headed out yesterday about half an hour after the person had said they had seen them but they were not to be seen. 

So when I went out today I wasn't sure if I would see them or not. But I was in luck. The first thing I noticed was their characteristic trilling sound as they appeared to chat to one another. As I got closer, I saw them in the little berry bearing tree that I had seen them in before. There were about 15-20 birds there this time, whereas there were only about 10 the last time I saw them, so it seems as though they've been recruiting other Waxwings from the local area. They were all very busy picking berries off the tree and actually for some of the time they were quite content with just perching in the sun for a while too, which made for some nice photos.

When I got there, 3 other people in a group were already photographing the birds. They weren't students and had obviously been told by someone that the Waxwings were there. I'm amazed at how many people now know about the presence of these birds on campus, and it's quite exciting to see how much interest these birds are attracting.

The light this afternoon was perfect and much better than what was available last time I tried photographing these birds. Not only this, but I was able to get even closer to the birds this time too, so I was able to get some more close-up shots. Last time I saw them I didn't want to get too close in case they flew off, but the other photographers there today were able to get really, really close to these birds without them being bothered, so I decided to get closer myself. It's not often that my 300mm lens is long enough for bird photography, but today it was fine.

There aren't too many berries left on this tree now as the Waxwings have eaten the vast majority of them. But there were still a lot of berries on the ground, which the birds were happy to fly down and eat.

I was amazed at just how efficient these birds were at picking the berries off the floor but it was quite a sight.

After a while taking photos of the birds feeding on the floor, my attention was drawn to some of the birds sitting in the afternoon sunshine in the tree above:

The photo below is probably the best of the ones I took, and I really liked the way the light lit the bird up so nicely.

The photo below is one of the last ones I took before the flock flew off into a much larger tree nearby. I could have watched these birds for hours, and their busy and frantic nature was fascinating to watch.

Overall I'm really pleased with how these pictures turned out, and they are definitely better than the ones I managed before. I feel rather lucky to have been given the opportunity to get so close to these unique birds, given they are only likely to be around for a little while. 

The tree they have been feeding on is really very small, and no other trees around it have any berries, so I'm really quite surprised that these Waxwings discovered this food source at all. The tree is right beside the Chemistry building, quite close to the centre of campus, and you really wouldn't have thought it would have been spotted by the birds. It just goes to show how opportunistic these birds actually are. They remind me a lot of Starlings for some reason (apart from the appearance), simply because of the way they behave. 

After a while the birds flew off altogether (maybe to another part of campus), and I decided to head back. Its been great following these birds over the last week or so and I'll really miss them when they're gone. Would it be too much to ask to see them one more time I wonder? :D