Came a across a large flock of cedar waxwings feasting on last year's crab apples the other morning. I find photos of cedar waxwings difficult to edit and it's hard to do these gorgeous birds justice with a photo. I was fortunate to have had plenty of opportunities that morning and took (way too) many photos. I'll post more as I'm able to slog through them all.
(03/16/24)

#birds #birding #BirdPhotography #BirdsOfMastodon #wildlife #WildlifePhotography #nature #MastoArt #photography #AltText

Woooah! What a beauty! 🤩❤️❤️❤️

@RiversideBryan

The first time I saw a photo of one I was mesmerized and I was really close to one once though my photos from that encounter were for crap. It's hard to overstate the drama of that mask and crest. Never encountered this many before. They were very hungry and were gulping down tons of old berries.

@Rihilism We used to have a crab apple next to our porch. One year a flock of cedar waxwings ate the old fruit bare. Some of them seemed to have gotten drunk from them and ended up recuperating on our porch for about 30 minutes.

@old_hippie

That'd be cool to see!

They really gulp down the crab apples, lol. This group spent quite a while gorging themselves.

I'm not surprised that they can get a bit drunk though I've never seen them do that. I don't see any birds eating the crab apples that haven't overwintered. I assumed that they were too tough and bitter until they decayed over the winter and it seems likely there'd be some fermentation too.

@Rihilism nice pic! I've never had any luck getting good photos of these guys. It is quite the natural phenomenon when a huge flock descends to gobble up all of the berries in the area.

@ChazWuzza

These are definitely the best shots I've taken. I don't think I've witnessed them feeding before. It was cool to watch them and the feeding kept them distracted👍

@Rihilism 😍 great image! Have a wonderful time ☀️