[CT Birds] BoheMania!!!

[Clay Taylor]

Hi all - 

Forget Husky-Mania, there's a new attraction in Storrs!

I arrived at the UConn CLAS building at about 8:30 am, finding Steve Rogers already there, with no waxwings of any sort in sight.   He reported seeing four large-ish waxwings that flew overhead and sounded "different" than the usual cedar Waxwing calls.   We hung out there for a while, and at about 9:20 he decided to look over by the Gant building.   I stayed until 9:30, and then went in that direction, too.    In the meantime, Steve had found the birds, and when he returned to CLAS to tell me, I was gone but Jan Collins was there.    We all made a rendezvous back at the fruit tree across the street from Gant, actually in the yard framed by the Charles Goodyear Hall and the Goodwin Batterson Hall.   It was time to Let The Show Begin.

A quick question - is that some sort of crabapple tree, or a cherry / chokecherry tree?    There were LOTS of fruits in clusters, they are relatively small - it looked wrong for an apple-type tree.   I have to admit that I didn't study the bark.  

Steve initially saw two Bohemian waxwings, but as we stood there, a bunch of waxwings flew in from over top of the surrounding buildings and perched in the maple (?) tree directly in front of Goodwin - that proved to be the staging tree for most all the waxwings that were looking for brunch.    Within a few minutes, there were 6 Bohemians and 15+ Cedars in the fruit tree, actively plucking fruits and swallowing them whole, or at least trying to.    They would try multiple fruits, perhaps looking for ones with the right consistency, or perhaps taste?     The viewing was perfect - sunlight over our shoulders, the birds ignored us and the students passing by, and I killed a lot of electrons with the Pentax K100D and the STS 80 HD.

Heck, if it wasn't for the Bohemians, just the Cedar Waxwing photo ops would have been wonderful!

The birds would come into the crabapple, feed for a while, then retire to the maple, or fly over the Goodwin building or the adjacent building to the right, evidently into the numerous trees back there.    After 10 - 15 minutes, some or all of the Bohemians would return, feed a while, and continue the pattern.   The fruit tree was never devoid of Bohemians for more than 10 minutes at a time.   

At all times there were birds roosting in the maple, and it was easy to pick out the calls of the Bohemians vs. the Cedar.    The Cedar Waxwing call always has an "eeee" component to it - "Zeeeeeee..."    The Bohemian's call was definitely lower and more buzzy, almost a "sizzle", or like when you "shush" a talkative person at the movies - "SHHhhhhhhh" or "ZSHHHhhhhhhh".   Actually, what struck me was its resemblance to the noise made by a nestful of baby birds when a parent appears at nestside with a bug in its beak.   This was only my second viewing of Bohemians, and only time from close range where I could hear them talking.

As the waxwings cycled in and out of the tree, Steve was counting Bohemians - no mean feat because they were constantly hopping from branch to branch.    He was sure of 6, and then later saw 7 to his satisfaction, but he felt that there were probably more.   After he left and only Jan and I were there, I definitely saw seven in the fruit tree, and heard at least two chorusing from the direction of the maple, so let's call it NINE for now, with more individuals possible.    The flock could be growing as passing birds join in on the feast.

The Cedars would fly across the street and land in the deciduous tree on the corner by the North Parking Garage, but we never saw a Bohemian go to the left - only to the right into the maple, or fly over the buildings and out of sight.   A few minutes later they would return.   Hmmm....do waxwings go to a communal restroom?

The Cedars and occasionally Bohemian would even go to the ground to pick up and swallow fallen fruits, and the Cedars were actively flycatching insects and at least one moth that flew out from the Goodyear building.

All in all, a fun morning.

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net