Heard what I'm pretty certain was a brambling this morning. Just a brief call, but it means that one of my favourite winter birds is back. I sometimes see hundreds of them in the trees and on the ground in my local woods during the winter and early spring.

hi
i was walking the dog down covehive in suffolk sunday and i saw a brambling, it was the first one i have seen it is a very pretty bird.

Have had several Brambling, locally in the past few weeks. They seem to be turning up all over now. [/font]

Brent Geese:

North America has the Cedar Waxwing--a bird I see every year around this time. They are typically found feasting on Pyracantha berries, and get drunk from eating the berries.

North America also has the Bohemian Waxwing (the one which occurs in the UK), and I have only seen Bohemians once. Bohemians tend to occur at higher elevations here, whereas the Cedars seem to like lowlands.

Kingfisher
[/quote]

I'm the opposite, we often have huge flocks of Bohemians but i've only seen one Cedar Waxwing in Britain! It was strange seeing Cedar Waxwings in red hot weather on Vancouver Island in July!

The Bohemians do seem to congregate in huge flocks. My first ever sighting of them was in a wilderness area just west of Mount Rainier, in Washington State. There must have been over a hundred birds, and they were unmistakeably different from Cedars. Bigger and chunkier.

Where did you see the Cedar Waxwing in the UK? Was it mixed with a flock of Bohemians?

Did you go to Butchart Gardens when you were on Vancouver Island? My first sighting of Tufted Puffins occurred on a ferry ride between Port Angeles, WA and Victoria.

Kingfisher

Well, come January/February we tend to get a lot of Fieldfar and Redwing in a field up the road, and you can guarantee hordes of them every year-something to look farward to!

Yeah, the Cedar Waxwing was with a huge flock of Bohemian Waxwing in Nottingham a few years ago now. I went to Painters Lodge on the east coast of VI. They were all over the gardens there.

This post was last modified: 27-11-2007 07:50 PM by Cornwall Birder.

I have never seen them before

This photo was taken by bird photographer Brian McGeough who regularly contributes to my website. I think it captures the winter bird theme perfectly!
   

This post was last modified: 18-01-2008 10:05 PM by Cornwall Birder.

Yes, the robin is very nice to see at Christmas time