Psilos Bird Photography

Horwich Waxwings
November 20th 2010. This year has seen an influx of Waxwings on a scale unlike any that have been seen for many years. Not only have there been very large numbers but they arrived in mid October which is very early. Every winter I look forward to seeing if any waxwings arrive in the area so when a large flock was reported in Horwich, some eight miles away I just had to go see them.
 
 

I arrived at just after 9.30am on a beautifully sunny but very cold morning. Locating the birds was not difficult but there was a disappointing low number. Just four birds were sitting in a tree that was in deep shade. I was not going to get any good photographs there.

Patience often pays off though as twenty minutes later I was rewarded by a flock of approximantely 30 Waxwings flying in.Unusually for Waxwings they were very flighty, preferring to stay in the top of large trees.
 
 

Eventually though the birds had to come down to eat.The tree that they chose, early in the morning was lit only on one side and naturally the birds preferred to feed on the other side which was not good for photographs. It also took a long while for the birds to settle when feeding so that I could get closer. Within the hour the sun came fully up lighting up most of the tree and the birds began to settle. Later on the birds flew off and became flighty again but I had forty minutes to get the photographs I wanted.