Sunday, August 25, 2013

Juvenile Cedar Waxwing

We have been seeing huge numbers of Cedar Waxwings lately; in fact they are the dominant species right now. We can easily count sixty birds in an evening. We have been a little puzzled as to why the increase in numbers as compared to a month ago.  Last night we took a closer look, and noticed that some of them looked different, they did not appear to have the distinct crest.  I got a photo, and when we checked we realized that some were juveniles.  Cedar Waxwings have an average of four young ones in a brood, so our number of waxwings has tripled, which probably explains our increase.  You may notice that the breast feathers do not look like a Cedar Waxwing, but resemble more the “vest-look” of an Olive-sided Flycatcher.  Last night we also solved a mystery bird cry, and think it belongs to a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk.  The cry matches that of a recorded juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk. No photo or even a sighting, but we did witness a tremendous confrontation between some Steller’s Jays, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and American Crows.  

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