# Waxwings at Woburn…



## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

Caught wind of these enigmatic winter migrants whilst visiting relatives on the weekend and jumped at the chance to capture them close by! The Waxwing is definitely one of those poster birds and high on a twitcher's "tick" list, even non twitcher's can get excited by their very striking and almost unreal appearance with their silky smooth feathers and punk rock hair-do. These Berry loving creatures travel down from Scandinavia when food supplies run low.










They travel in flocks and tend to arrive in the far north and east of Britain around October time and slowly drift southwards over the course of the winter clearing berry bushes as they go. They tend to prefer ornamental berry trees like Rowan & Cotoneaster which is why you'll mostly find Waxwings at non-birdy places including car parks and peoples' gardens.










They're also extremely obliging so getting a good, close view is easily achieved. The waxy tips on their wings are actually the extended shafts of the feathers, and the number seen will identify the age and sex of the bird, ranging from none on young females to eight on adult males. Extremely pleased we saw them as I'd wanted to capture them for ages and another life tick!










_All photos on this page taken with Canon EOS 7D with 400mm f/5.6L with 1.4x II Extender, MF'd_

Thanks for looking!

drew


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## Dan J (Jun 18, 2008)

wow! those are cracking shots there Drew, they were talking about these on autumnwatch.
hopefully one day when ive learnt how to use my D90 properly i'll be able to get some nice shots like that

thanks for sharing

Dan


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## CleanYourCar (Jan 23, 2006)

Those are excellent. Just had a look at your web site and it's all very impressive.


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## spitfire (Feb 10, 2007)

Drew these are very good. I've been looking all Autumn for these and haven't spotted any yet.


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

Purple Haze said:


> wow! those are cracking shots there Drew, they were talking about these on autumnwatch.
> hopefully one day when ive learnt how to use my D90 properly i'll be able to get some nice shots like that
> 
> thanks for sharing
> ...


Thanks Dan, keep at it :thumb:



CleanYourCar said:


> Those are excellent. Just had a look at your web site and it's all very impressive.


Cheers Tim :thumb:



spitfire said:


> Drew these are very good. I've been looking all Autumn for these and haven't spotted any yet.


Thanks Dougie, keep a check on BirdGuides News Extra >> http://www.birdguides.com/bne/default.asp?menu=menu_birdnews (need to register) or try and find your local county bird sightings website, never know what you may get wind of....they're still in Scotland I do believe :thumb:

drew


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## Sharpy (Mar 25, 2007)

Beautiful shots as always Drew, and that is a stunning wee birdie too


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