PART THREE
The size of the Waxwing can be confusing to some. We are so used to seeing full frame photographs of the bird or to viewing the bird through binoculars or telescopes that we may find it surprising to realise that the Waxwing (7.5 ins) is smaller than a than a Starling (8.5 ins) and even slightly smaller than a Skylark (7.75 ins). In Grantham, I saw a Waxwing feeding next to a singing Blackbird (10 ins) and it appeared quite diminutive by comparison, the Blackbird being a third as big again in length and certainly in 'bulk'.
To the Waxwing watcher, there are two regular ID mini-hazards, especially for those of us not gifted with 20/20 sight. The first one is 'Starlings'. The flight of the Starling, particularly with its triangular wings, is not unlike that of the Waxwing and from certain angles and in certain lights there can well be an initial confusion. Even the great Victorian ornithologist, Henry Seebohm (1832 -1895........born in Bradford), at first mistook the Waxwings he saw near Sheffield one winter for Starlings.
The second mini-hazard can be 'Ash trees', particularly when one is looking for a reported Waxwing flock. One often comes across Waxwings perched in the bare branches of a tree, and one can scan trees for Waxwings silhouettes. At a distance and especially if one is driving, the clusters of Ash seeds grouped regularly along the tree's bare branches can momentarily make the heart beat faster.
Waxwings make use of multiple feeding strategies throughout the year. One main food in early summer is fruit which they eat on their breeding grounds (eg wild strawberries, serviceberries and ripening blackberries) and they breed relatively late so as to take full advantage of summer ripening fruit; through late summer and into autumn and winter they feed on a wide variety of berries (especially Rowan) crab apples and rosehips. As spring arrives, they also turn to buds: I saw them nibbling Silver Birch buds in Grantham in late March. Insects are also taken, either by gleaning or by midair capture: I witnessed the latter in Bourne in early April. Flycatching reports in Britain increased with the warmer weather into April when one observer watched a group of 15 Waxwings flycatching for some 10-15 minutes before they flew off without even visiting a nearby laden and usual targetted berry tree. In Norfolk in mid-April - by which time there was an obvious shortage of red berries - I saw a flock of some 70 Waxwings feeding on Ivy berries....hovering in mid-air to snatch them from the berry clusters.
Waxwings usually nest in close proximity, in a loosely colonial way, and quite close to water on their breeding grounds. Thus they will have ready access not only to any ripening fruit in the area but also to myriads of mosquitoes and other insects.. Incidentally, a pair of Waxwings will not defend their nesting 'territory' on the approach of other Waxwings...... the reason perhaps as to why Waxwings have no true song.
Waxwings can consume massive amounts of berries during the winter and a previous study reported that a single bird consumed several hundred Cotoneaster berries in one day. That is quite a feat but it helps us to understand why large flocks can quickly deplete a favourite berry tree or shrub of its crop.
By January 2011, Lincolnshire's stock of Hawthorn and Rowan berries had virtually all gone, not only due to the feeding activities of Waxwings but also of native and winter Thrushes. I always found it quite moving to see bewildered Mistle Thrushes valiantly but vainly defending their prized berry tree against the overwhelming odds of a Waxwing onslaught. From January 2011, Lincolnshire's stock of Cotoneaster berries then became the main Waxwing target. Incredibly, after the close attention of even large flocks of Waxwings, that stock wasn't really finally exhausted until early April. A familiar name in garden shrubs, there are only 3 or 4 Cotoneaster species which are tall enough to be cultivated as trees. Their berries have a brilliance and generosity in numbers that can produce a spectacular display.......a magnet for Waxwings. The Weeping Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster hybridus pendulus) and Cotoneaster frigidus 'cornubia' are the most often planted of the tree Cotoneasters, and the ones which Waxwings have been stripping bare of berries over the winter throughout Lincolnshire.
The standard feeding procedure for Waxwings at a berry site is:
a. arrive from wherever into their perching tree
b. swoop down in a smash and grab action to feed on the berry tree
c. return to the perching tree (b and c may be repeated several times)
d. depart in haste from the berry tree/perching tree
If you are at a stakeout, eg in a car, and you can only have in view either the known berry tree or the known perching tree it is advisible to choose the view with the perching tree. Several times I have waited at stakeouts when the Waxwings have arrived in the perching tree and stayed there for up to half an hour..... and then flown off for whatever reason without even visiting the berry tree. Observation of only the berry tree would have led to a dip out. One can always follow the flight from perching tree to berry tree. Sometimes such as at Tentercroft Street in Lincoln in December, the initial perching tree (a Sycamore above a Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Dealer's) can be up to 50 - 100 yards away from the berry trees (in Tentercroft Street..... 2 Rowans by the Public Car Park.
Searching for Waxwings can involve cruising the streets of known berry tree sites........ I never did get arrested for curb crawling although I was subjected to some very funny looks. I could well imagine this scenario: "Would you mind stepping out of the car, Sir.... Did you say 'Waxwings'? Well, I've never heard that one before!" One lesson definitely learnt was to be especially careful at school opening/closing times, especially when parked, as the following incident shows:
Steve Nesbitt had put up a post (Grantham Waxwings - Fri 18 March) telling how he had photographed Waxwings outside a school at around closing time. I replied:
I hope you didn't have the same experience I had on Wednesday 16 March in Grantham when viewing Waxwings through binoculars as school children were coming out of school along Kenilworth Road after 3.00 pm. The Waxwings were ignoring the children and vice-versa. There was I, parked along Kenilworth Road admiring the flock of 19 Waxwings when this 'character' appeared at my car window requesting a word. "To put it bluntly", he said "are you looking at the school children? ... We do have paedophiles around here". At that precise moment, I felt like pulling his leg and saying, "Oh! I bet you're one of us, aren't you? Hop in the car, mate, and you can share my binoculars!" However, discretion ruled the day...... otherwise I would have had 4 Squad Cars, 8 PCs, an armed SWAT Team and 2 Fire Engines surrounding me within 5 minutes..... so I politely explained all about Waxwings, their rarity and pointed to the berry tree. He seemed satisfied and sloped off. (Fortunately, Steve had taken the wise precaution of alerting the school-crossing warden as to what he was doing with his camera.
Another potentially tricky situation occurred in Witham St. Hughs in late January after the Waxwing flock had in the main left the W St H - Thurlby main road area and moved int the Estate itself. I was watching through binoculars a sizeable flock of c50 on a berry tree in the back garden of a house in Raven's View when I noticed a movement through the berry tree. I refocussed and very quickly realised that I was staring at a woman at her bedroom window who was staring at me. She rapidly pulled the curtains together and I rapidly left the area (well, as rapidly as my Hernia would allow) and made for my parked car on the main road....... just in case her husband/partner/boyfriend (and, hopefully, not all three) might be in the house at the time. Peeping Toms are bad enough, but Peeping Freds??
Dedicated and serious Waxwing chasing can be a mostly solitary pastime inasmuch as one has to be ready to set off on a trip at short notice, eg. acting on news from an up-to-date website report or a telephone call, and without being able to give anyone else much, if any, warning. Further, one must put in several hours of travelling and waiting just to see the one species.... on repeated occasions, and notorious for being 'elusive'. Not many birders fancy visiting on numerous occasions McDonald's or supermarket car parks, busy street corners and main roads, brandishing binoculars, cameras and telescopes and being jostled by (? interested) passers-by; or even sitting in a car for two or three hours at a time and gawping at a solitary bare branched perching tree or a nearby berry source in case the birds happen to fly in.... which sometimes they don't, of course. I distinctly remember (how could I forget) certain extended dips in Grantham (09.30 - 12.30), Louth (1.30 - 4.30), Sleaford (10.30 - 12.30) and Skegness (11.45 - 2.15) etc.etc...... just as well I hadn't taken anyone else with me.
So it is particularly enjoyable when the solitary nature of Waxwing chasing can be relieved by meeting up with company at the actual stakeout, and I've enjoyed the company of many LBC members and non-LBC birders over the winter. I've also had conversations with countless non- birding people, including mothers pushing prams, shoppers, family groups, postmen, security men, cyclists, car drivers, van drivers, etc, who have approached me to enquire and to talk to me: Waxwing chasing is certainly one way of meeting people!
Freddy
PART FOUR (concluding)...... will follow.....
and PART FOUR contains:
..... lots of Waxwing chat
..... my detailed Waxwing records for Winter 2010/11 and Spring 2011
..... historical recollections of:
..... joining the RSPB in 1947, visiting the London HQ and meeting the Staff
..... hunting for Black Redstarts on the post-war London bomb sites.
..... and I suppose PART FOUR might be split into two ( PARTS FOUR AND FIVE) if our hardworking typing fingers need a break.