Cedar waxwings filled the trees this morning

When winter arrives, the birds go away. Here in Georgia, there are a few that stay around, and I love that. There's always a chirp or two in the trees, a swoop or two across the yard. But for the most part, it's quiet.

When spring arrives, the birds come back in droves. They liven the yard.

We have many tall trees and some bushes in the yard, it's great for the birds. We have a tall oak, live oak, a 100 foot magnolia tree, pine trees, and a variety of shrubbery for birds to flit here and there and light upon them. We used to have more cardinals but I don't see them much these days. Same with the mourning doves. We have lots of mockingbirds and jays and crows. I enjoy the warblers. We have lots of songbirds abounding (unless those are the mockingbirds, lol).

Birds are a knitter of air
energizing the sky
Making the air sing,
bringing life to the trees
aeronautical dips and flutterings
done so beautifully with ease

At dawn I like to walk around the yard to see what I would see. The sky lightens with pink almost all the time. it's a rural area so the the stars shine brightly, dark on the ground but starry light above twinkles. The sun had come over the horizon and the day was barely lit. A large flock of cedar waxwings flew over my head and landed in the highest of the trees at the edge of the yard. The rising sun bounced off their their gold chests into and came away as burnished gold. They sat preening, content and singing as they brushed themselves.

Most of them were facing away from me, so even with the zoom lens I could not get a great shot of their faces, but look, just look, aren't they pretty?

There were many more and a smaller flock came after a few minutes and settled in the next door tree, too. It was so fun to watch them.

The Cedar Waxwing is a medium-sized, sleek bird with a large head, short neck, and short, wide bill. Waxwings have a crest that often lies flat and droops over the back of the head. The wings are broad and pointed, like a starling’s. The tail is fairly short and square-tipped. The red waxy tips to the wing feathers are not always easy to see. Cedar Waxwings are social birds that you’re likely to see in flocks year-round. All About Birds

Here is a highly zoomed and cropped photo showing the red waxy wingtips. The birds were about 200 feet away from me at the time:

Well it was a treat.

I hope you had a nice day, wherever you are. It was nice here in Georgia, but clouded over in the afternoon and it's been sprinkling on and off ever since. You know what they say, March showers bring...oh wait, that's not right. We do have flowers though, and some warming temps and most wonderful of all, birds!