Thursday, December 17, 2009

A waxwing Christmas

I always think of waxwings at Christmas. They are not resident to the UK, but like Santa they visit us from Scandinavia each winter and tend to hang around shopping centres whilst people are doing their Christmas shopping.
Last year I spent much of December scouring the streets of Huddersfield trying to photograph some, only to have a flock visit the tree outside just as I was sitting down to my Christmas dinner.
As I watched them, the reason for the name ‘waxwing’ became clear. Each of the secondary flight feathers bore a tear-shaped red droplet which matched the dripping candle wax on our table... Read more in this week's Yorkshire Post.

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