Friday Night Photos Holiday Feast Edition

Happy Friday and welcome back everyone. The last week without C99 was like a week without sunshine. It's good to have the sun back. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

While most of us were all busy stuffing ourselves with turkey and all the trimmings yesterday these Cedar Waxwings were giving thanks and stuffing themselves on Toyon bush berries.

001_DSC1894_31574.1

002_DSC2891_32561.1

003_DSC2172_31846.1

004_DSC1902_31582.1

005_DSC2177_31851.1

006_DSC2883_32553.1

007_DSC2096_31770.1

008_DSC1890_31570.1

009_DSC2877_32547.1

010_DSC1938_31618.1

Share
up
19 users have voted.

Comments

Are they migrating or do they winter in your area. Also what are they eating?

up
10 users have voted.
Socialprogressive's picture

@humphrey
The waxwings are guests for the winter. I'm not sure how long there in town before they head back north for their breeding season. The berries they're eating are Toyon berries.

up
11 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Sima's picture

I just took this photo after a day full of grey skies and rain. It started to clear up at sunset, of course, and made a gorgeous sky.

pink_sunset2_nov_25_2022.jpg

up
17 users have voted.

If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so

Socialprogressive's picture

@Sima
That was nice of Mother Nature to give you a beautiful sunset.

up
11 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

What characters they are! I have a mulberry tree in my back yard down in Texas and they are all over that tree. I have to put an old shower curtain down on my cooking table outside or it will be covered with their purple droppings but what a conversation they have as they work the tree. Love how they swoop in and out in unison.

Thanks for the nice pics! Right now I have ravens and crows hitting my suet feeders here in Santa Fe. They also are quite the characters.

up
16 users have voted.

Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

Socialprogressive's picture

@jakkalbessie
How nice to have a tree to attract them. The only time they have visited my backyard was for a quick stop for a drink at the birdbath. I get the crows and ravens all the time. Noisy little boogers.

up
9 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

dystopian's picture

Hi all, Hey SP! Hope it is all good out there!

Fantastic Cedar Waxwing photos! They will pass berries to each other. And even have gotten intoxicated due to fermented ones too. Toyon are a great wildlife food plant. Pyracantha is good but perhaps a non-native introduced species. Cottoneaster (sp.?) is also good for them and other frugivores. They are quite irruptive, chasing food sources all winter. I have not yet seen one this winter, but did have about 40 Robin in the yard today. Another irruptive frugivore. Our Hackberry crop is zip this year, and Junipers not much better, so we won't see much of them this winter.

Only the adults show the red waxy tips of the secondaries. If they don't have that, they were born this year and a 'first-winter' bird. A few months old and in its first winter. If they have it, they are at least a year old. The Bohemian Waxwing of the north is cosmopolitan. But many birders consider the holy grail waxwing the most range-restricted, and most beautiful, with a RED tail tip, the Japanese Waxwing, an endemic there. This pic below is an adult Cedar Waxwing.
cwx4.jpg

Thanks for the great waxwings!

up
17 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

@dystopian
Thanks for the waxwing info. I hope you're able to see some this winter.

up
8 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

janis b's picture

@dystopian

Is the Waxwing related to your Bunting? The masked face of both made me wonder.

up
8 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

@janis b Hi Janis, Good to see you back! Hope you get better faster.

Waxwings are not really close to buntings, they are in their own 3-species group (family). They are uusually considered nearest Silky-Flycatchers. Which also have a crest and fine silky plumage. The one regular breeding Silky-Flycatcher in America is the Phainopepla, a bird of the southwest mostly. Often around Mesquites. The black males are gorgeous with a red eye and white patches in wings. Cedar Waxwings do lots of flycatching in summer when feeding young, and until fruit and berries start to ripen again.

up
7 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

Your photos are so fanciful, thank you.

It’s nice to be back.

I had a very special time overseas with my daughter and 20 month-year-old granddaughter. The joyful and fun loving nature of a toddler is beyond compare. It seems like every moment of their day is full of exhuberant life. It was very refreshing to get a good dose of it!

Unfortunately, two days after arriving home I came down with a flu I hope I never have to experience again. One week later I am just beginning to have a hint of normal.

I wish all well in health and good cheer.

up
13 users have voted.
Sima's picture

@janis b
Sounds like you had a great time with the daughter and granddaughter. Getting the flu right after sucks, and I'm very glad you are getting better. Hope that continues and you are feeling great soon!

up
7 users have voted.

If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so

orlbucfan's picture

@Sima I agree, Sima! Please get well, jb! I hope it wasn't the CV crud. Sad
You know you are looking at great photos when they look like paintings, and these do. I woke up with that Jackie DeShannon tune in my head, Sp. Smile
Anywho, Rec'd!!

up
8 users have voted.

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Socialprogressive's picture

@orlbucfan
Glad you liked the photos and the music.

up
7 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Socialprogressive's picture

@janis b
Glad you had a good time with your daughter and granddaughter. So sorry to hear you have the flu. At least it was good enough to wait until you got home before you caught it. The last time I had the flu I had the misfortune of catching it while traveling. That was not a fun experience.
Feel better and get well soon.

up
7 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

mimi's picture

@janis b paranoid state of mind was even too scared to ask 'what's up' with you in a private message.

Get better soon, and be happy for all the joy the little one has given you during the journey.

I just refuse to read bad messages and bad news. Ignoring it all is a good medicine.

Welcome back, dear lady, even your avatar picture looks like you have a cold, but I guess that are my new glasses. All my eye operations are over and I can see in the garden like a world champion. Preved

SP just glorious phantastically beautiful photos. You are the champion. Sigh.

up
6 users have voted.
Socialprogressive's picture

@mimi

up
5 users have voted.

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.