Subject: Re: Waxwings,
Date: Jul 17 15:45:29 1996
From: mwaller at wolfenet.com - mwaller at wolfenet.com


>Jerry noted:
>
>>
>> At Johnson Marsh, east Fort Lewis, it was a pleasure to see the highly
>> successful Purple Martin houses set out in the water. Many birds. And at the
>> same place, I was stunned to see many Cedar Waxwings flycatching. I've
seen them
>> do it on occasion, but yesterday they were all over the marsh, demonstrating
>> remarkable skill and persistence - not to mention beautiful flashes of color.
>>
>>
>Last saturday I noted the same behavior at the Mclane Creek Ponds in
>Capitol Forest, just off Delphi road sw of Olympia. I was initially
>confused by the very swallow like flight, followed by tree top
>flycatching. The binoculars revealed a a group of cedar waxwings. When
>I consulted the guidebooks, thye mentioned this behavior but I had never
>seen it before. Also at this sight on July 13 AM;singing Swainson's
>Thrushes, willow flycatchers, and a juvenile grosbeak of some sort loudly
>begging for food. I never saw the adult, but the impression was that of
>a blackheaded grosbeak.
>-Jim Neitzel.
>
I hadn't observed Waxwing flycatching until this year either, then watched
them along the Willamette in Salem and along the Fraser near Agassiz, B.C.
in the same week.

Mike

Mike Waller
Manager of Operations
Woodland Park Zoo
5500 Phinney Avenue N.
Seattle, WA 98103
ph: (206)684-4057
fax:(206)684-4817
e-mail: mwaller at wolfenet.com