Weird Wild & Wooly

Yes, those blackish blobs in my own photo are birds.  Not just any birds! These are the sleekly feathered Cedar Waxwings who visited my backyard yesterday.  If it had been a sunny day, my pictures would have looked more like this one (maybe):

A group of about 15 took turns in sets of two or three to swoop down from a tall tree to my yaupon holly tree, which looks a lot like the tree on which the above waxwing is perched.   They did not trust me as I trimmed my creeping fig vine nearby.  They ate all the red berries from the top of the tree as I worked, leaving the lower berries for another day when pesky humans and cats are not around.

I have seen these birds in Minnesota, Atlanta, Hendersonville, NC, and always at least once a year here in the Augusta area.  They fly in a roundish pattern in a small group of about 20.  They are one of the few Eastern U.S. crested birds which include the Blue Jay, Cardinal, Titmice and Cedar Waxwing. These beautiful waxwings are not endangered – their numbers are on the increase.  Last year I saw them on my gumball tree.  They were much happier this year in my holly tree.

Thanks to the search prompted by my favorite wild visitors, I have learned how to participate in the next Great Back Yard Bird Count, February, 2010.

Weird: Holy Moly, these guys found some pretty weird facts.  There are 50!

Wild: Watch out for the birds.  Their habits are changing according to the Audubon Society’s analysis of citizen scientists’ 40 years of data collection.

Wooly: Galactic dust bunnies?  Ha ha, the NASA nerds have a sense of humor! But wait, the article is all about how heavy elements like oxygen, carbon and iron are blown “across the universe”.  I like these NASA writers.  They appeal to my chemist’s heart.  I thought carbon was ubiquitous but it took the Sptizer and her scientists to prove it.