As Elusive… and Handsome as Zorro

Posted by Pat Stewart on Feb 17, 2012 in My Blog | 0 comments

Ever since late July of last year, I have been lusting after a specific bird.  In July, while vacationing in the NC mountains with a friend, we were along a lovely stream that had a nice waterfall.  Standing on a little bridge, I was busy gathering photos of the waterfall, rushing water over what I imagined were ancient rocks, and my friend drew my attention to a bird she saw.  Not having the best vision, I scanned the area saying, “where? where?”  Finally, I caught sight of what appeared to be a masked bandit of sorts.  It was a Cedar Waxwing which I had not seen before.  Too far away for a close photo, I had to be satisfied with just having finally seen one.

Fast forward to today, in my backyard, as I was tracking a lovely female cardinal.  I got a few shots of her and then she flew away.  As I was bringing my camera down I saw back into the tree a bit my very own Cedar Waxwing in my very own holly tree in my very own back yard!  Oh, my goodness did I get excited.  In bird watching, one has to learn to contain one’s thrills of the heart in order to NOT scare one’s subjects away.  I have to admit, I was chanting my desires to God as I ever so quickly tried to focus…yes, myself as well as my camera.  How can God bless me so?

Cedar Waxwings are handsome birds with a long crest atop their heads and a black zorr0-like mask across their eyes.  A brownish silky looking body with yellow underparts and as if God wanted to treat us just a little more, red tips on the wings with a bright yellow tip on the tail.  They live in colonies and move about in numbers up to several hundred.  They go where the food is.

In this photo of mine, I think the one in the foreground stands erect as a centurion while the others dine on the berries.  I have not seen it but others report that they will pass a berry down the line to one another.

Handsome and generous.  What else could one hope for?