Early winter wildlife

 Winter is taking hold in the Northeast Kingdom. We just had a "bomb cyclone", although by the time it came to our neighborhood it had dissipated quite a bit, and only brought overnight snow. Our Red Fox celebrated the event by crossing our field again, carrying its christmas meal: a full chicken! (One of our neighbors is not going to be happy.) I've seen Snow Buntings down the road from the house, circling open fields in search of grass seeds on the snow. Pine Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks have arrived from the north. A flock of Evenings is camped out up the road, and a few stopped at our feeder momentarily. But so far the star of the show for winter is an irruptive fruit eater from the north.

Bohemian Waxwing

Driving through town (St J) on errands, a large flock flew overhead, wheeled, and landed in the bare branches of a large tree. They have distinctive pointed wings, superficially like starlings, but if you can hear them above the traffic noise, there's no mistaking them.

 

Winter flock in a large tree

 The color is all wrong for starling, too: these are gray in front. Exercising patience in the bitter cold, I waited until they came down a bit closer.

 

Closer look. Gray breast, light brown rump, and a distinctive face pattern.

 

 

Even closer, feeding on fruit. Waxwings for sure.

A tail that looks dipped into a yellow paint can leaves no doubt that these are waxwings. Cedar Waxwings are common in the summer, but these didn't sound the same: there was no ultra-high-pitched squeal. The light brown color on the rump is the tell-tale sign that these are not the usual characters. Bohemian Waxwings are irruptive winter visitors. In northern Vermont, there are at least a few every year that are reported by birders. But the numbers are big in some winters, sometimes huge.

 

Bohemian Waxwing in fruit tree (crab apple?)

Both waxwings in North American are unaccountably stylish in their head pattern. What forces in evolution could lead to such flair? Wouldn't they still survive quite well with a more boring looking face patch? So much more to be understood.

 Irruption is a phenomenon exhibited by a modest number of birds. It's not known what the whole set of factors is for Bohemian Waxwings, but a common hypothesis is a reduced fruit crop up north.  The flock pictured here (at least 165, maybe close to 200) had already been spotted by other local birders, but I finally tracked them down and got photos. The brown rump and gray breast distinguishes Bohemian from Cedar. This was not a days long quest: they were at the grocery store. Seriously.

The Bohemian Waxwing is a bit dingier than Cedar when viewed from the front. But when one turned around (finally), I was rewarded with a view of crisp white wing patches and a startling yellow streak leading to the wingtip. Very nice, indeed. A good bird to check off for my Northeast Kingdom list.