Birds where you least expect them (1 Viewer)

There's a local athletic club where I work out frequently at lunchtime. Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a flock of cedar waxwings hanging out there in some berry trees. One time I counted at least 70 in the flock, and other times, around 40. The other day, they were in the trees right by the gym entrance, so close I could almost touch them, undisturbed by the people walking by on the sidewalk.

I decided to ask permission to photograph them, since it's private property and my camera with 500mm lens on a tripod would be quite noticeable. I did get permission, and yesterday brought my equipment. Of course, the birds weren't there which discouraged me a bit. I decided to kill some time and come back after a while.

There is a nearby shopping mall with a cafe/bakery (Panera Bread) so I went there for a snack. As I was walking in I noticed some birds in the shrubbery right there, and it turned out to the be the cedar waxwing flock I was looking for! I put my car in position and spent the better part of an hour parked right next to the juniper hedeges and got some very close shots. This is right in the middle of a suburban town, with noisy cars and people all around, but you'd never know it from the photos. I've been wanting to photograph waxwings for a long time, and never imagined my first opportunity would be at the Eden Prairie mall!

I posted a photo here in my gallery, and there are several more in my pbase gallery.

Great pics Gymell! Unfortunately we don't have waxwings this winter, here in Romania...

Thanks, these are pretty widespread here. Sometimes we'll have Bohemian waxwings also, but I've never seen one. I'm not sure if they come this far south (to the Minneapolis area.)

Very nice photos. I tried to get some shots of Cedar's before, but they stayed just out of range for my little zoom lens Sony. They're lovely little birds. I saw them for the first time last winter while in California and I was so surprised at how small they were. Of course, the field guide has that info, but I never paid much attention since I hadn't seen one.
Sue

Thanks, they are definitely small. Usually I only see them at the tops of trees so this was my first chance to get close. I was sitting right next to the bushes they were in, and I still had to use a long lens!

There has been a parliament of Long-Eared Owls hanging out in a rather diminutive pine tree in a South Loop park near an elementary school in Chicago. It's been (all too) widely publicized. There were up to seven at a time this year. I just went over lunch break, as the park is a mere ten blocks from my office and there were still three of them there. The locals thankfully put up a fence around the trees where they roost. Birds seemed quite unperturbed by the urban environment. Should have some pictures later tonight.

Beautiful picture of a beautiful bird, Gymel. I like the BEs too.:t:

Blaumeise said:

There has been a parliament of Long-Eared Owls hanging out in a rather diminutive pine tree in a South Loop park near an elementary school in Chicago. It's been (all too) widely publicized. There were up to seven at a time this year. I just went over lunch break, as the park is a mere ten blocks from my office and there were still three of them there. The locals thankfully put up a fence around the trees where they roost. Birds seemed quite unperturbed by the urban environment. Should have some pictures later tonight.

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I haven't posted in a long time, but I wanted to share my Long Eared Owl pics. I went to 'the spot' in the South Chicago Loop today & it was amazing! I've only been watching the birds for a couple of years & don't think I've ever seen an owl in the wild, it motivated me to go look for different species. It seems that there are only 2 owls left, unless the 3rd was really hidden, the 2nd one was hidden well-but could be seen.

& gymell, your pics are wonderful! Makes me want to kick my little digital camera's butt. :t:

Must be pretty cool to see those!