Cedar Waxwings

Identified by their head crest, yellow tipped tail, and olive colored wings, cedar waxwings, Bombycilla cedrorum,  are easy to identify when they return from their southerly migration out of our state. I see them in flocks of twenty to fifty birds feeding on the viburnum berries in my yard that entice them to return "home". They are harbingers of spring and their arrival in mid February is a sure sign that, while spring isn't really here yet, it is on the way. Are there rough winter days still in our future. Of course. But soon the balance will shift and a real spring will arrive. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Today I heard other birds in downtown Sandusky, Michigan starting their breeding territorial calls. Probably just the too common English sparrows or house sparrows, Passer domesticus. Their winter silence has also been broken by the coming change of seasons.

Meanwhile the suet feeding birds are still appreciative of my gifts to them. I love the nuthatches, probably in part because they are not as common as their near relatives the chickadees.

I am hopeful that little Gunnar the Icelandic Sheepdog puppy from Buland farm in Iceland will arrive sometime soon. I'm not sure yet if he will. Crossed fingers.