Posts

Showing posts from November, 2016
Image
Waxwings galore Those of you who follow the A9Birds' Facebook page will be well aware of my  delights in the past few weeks as Waxwings finally started to arrive, and in good numbers.  These stunning looking birds, about the size of a Starling, can arrive each winter as bad weather and the need for new food sources drives them from their usual wintering grounds in northern Russia, Finland and Scandinavia.  The last two winters yielded very few of them here in northeast Scotland, but 2016 has remedied that by far Having seen a passing dozen or so birds earlier in October, Mrs A9Birds and I were heading home from the shops when we caught sight of a group of birds atop some birches, on the edge of our nearest town of Forres.  A resident flock of Starlings can usually be seen there, and as we drew nearer the silhouettes of Mother Nature's closest offering to a New Romantic singer from the early 1980s was unmistakeable.  "Waxwings!" I announced, probably a little too