For the birds

Timeout from politics and stuff for a minute...

I’m not a real birder (birdbrain maybe) but like a lot of us I enjoy watching our feathered friends at the backyard feeders and bath.

Yesterday I saw – for the first time in 20-plus years of living around here -- a small flock of Cedar Waxwings. They stopped in our backyard for a half hour or so and jammed themselves 15 or 20 at a time into the birdbath, which still had rainwater from last week.

What a gorgeous bird. They are about the size and shape of a cardinal, with the same crested head. You might even mistake them for a female cardinal at first glance. But the coloring is much different when you look closely.

They have a buff colored body in various shades, but with a distinctive black mask across the eyes. They also have some white on the back, and some – males, I assume – have a spot of almost neon orange in each wing. All have a very bright band of yellow across the bottom of the tail.

I watched them at the bath through binoculars and it was like an HD nature show. Then they abruptly left the area.

I assume they were migrating, but I wondered if anyone knows if they are common around here and I've just never noticied them, or if this was a rare sighting? Or maybe you have your own sighting to share…

Cardinals

Submitted by sniffles5 on Mon, 01/14/2008 - 8:27am.

We had a pair of nesting cardinals near the cart path behind my house a couple of years ago. I'd forgotten about them until Saturday when I noticed a tree in my backyard had SEVEN cardinals in it...3 bright red males and 4 brown/orange females. They were all waiting for my Saturday morning ritual of filling the bird feeder. Who knew cardinals could read a calendar?

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Sniffles.... What Do You Expect My Friend

Submitted by Git Real on Mon, 01/14/2008 - 9:06am.

They were all waiting for my Saturday morning ritual of filling the bird feeder. Who knew cardinals could read a calendar?

They were Democrat cardinals. Word gets a round real fast in certain circles when there is a free handout.

Just kidding again.... sort of.

Seriously, that's cool. Thanks for sharing that with us. I don't feed the birds in the winter, but I often get Hummingbirds buzzing like flies in the summer. I can go out on my deck and prop myself up against the railing, next to the feeder. The little buzzers get used to me and fly right up in my face and feed with me sometimes inches away from them.

I do however, never feed squirrels anymore. It resembles a Hosea Williams Feed The Hungry event at the Ted.

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In regards to Democrats, Republicans, gangs, and other scads of coterie Kool-Aide drinkers; Remember this..... Eagles Don't Flock

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