My sister Skyped me this morning to show me a freshly killed Waxwing, it was from a flock of 400 birds in Burton, Lincolnshire. It had been hit by a car, but was still alive when she picked it up. The winter's Waxwing invasion, has seen the birds desperate act of feeding on roadside berries taking its deathly toll. Sadly, 2 hours later, I too was picking up another Waxwing casualty from a flock at Hamstreet that are also dicing with death along the hedgerow of the very fast A2070. Coincidentally the bird I picked up was a beautiful male - just as my sister had found. It had a broken neck but was otherwise was unmarked - very sad. I weighed it at 70 grammes.
The birds at Hamstreet are depleting the Hawthorn berries rapidly and yet the flock is still building in number, there were at least 50 + birds at Johnson's Corner today, with more birds feeding in the hedge towards the Kingsnorth turn-off on the A2070. Hopefully the Waxwings will soon be visiting our gardens, with just Sparrowhawks to contend with.
To cute for their own good, Waxwings have little fear of people or cars
2 comments:
Sadly Nick I am sure there will be a few more casualties.
I loved your story about the joy of seeing Waxwings in your town. Yesterday I had a visit of Cedar Waxwings and Robins in my backyard in search of berries from our Laurel Tree.
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