Hi Ho Tweets

I was out at Magnuson Park (in Seattle) this morning and the Bohemian Waxwing is still there. I arrived about 8:30 in the rain and watched a flock of about 30-40 Cedar Waxwings in an area south of the tennis courts. They were perching in the taller deciduous trees and dropping down to forage in the Hawthorne bushes. I watched them until about 10 with many good views and there was no Bohemian in that group. About 10 I did a quick scan of others parts of the park and returned to find the flock had left.

I drove over to the parking lot near the Submarine Sails and hiked up on kite hill. A 360 degree scan revealed no obvious waxwings around so I started back down the hill. Just then a flock of about 40 waxwings flew in from the southwest and eventually perched in the top of a Hawthorne tree down on the east side of the hill at about 10:30. As I started walking down a runner with dog came past and the whole flock flew up to a higher tree just north. When I got down close to the tree lots of Cedar Waxwings were in the top of the tree. A close examination showed a suspiciously larger bird on the back side of the tree. Changing my angle I could see the larger bird was the Bohemian Waxwing. Just then it flew to the front side of the tree and gave nice views, although under terrible light. It was a very nice study with the two species sitting side by side. The larger size and the ruddy undertail coverts of the Bohemian really stood out.

I went back to the car to get my camera and when I returned the flock had left. After taking a couple pictures of a Bald Eagle I began walking back to the car. As I approached the Submarine Sails the waxwing flock was distributed in three Hawthornes, with the larger size Bohemian readily apparent even from a distance. I got a rather poor photo.

When I left just after 11 the birds were still in the general area. They are obviously moving around, so if you don't see them at first you may have to look. If you run across a few waxwings it is probably best to stay in the same area to see if others come in.

Good Birding

Brian H. Bell
Woodinville WA
mail to bell asoc at isomedia dot com