C is for Cedar Waxwing

 Ok yes I know sort of cheating because the Cedar Waxwing is a part of the waxwing, technical name Bombycillidae, family. However, I chose to use it because this bird was a new addition this year to my life list! I was hiking with my dad in Welaka State Forest on the St Johns Landing trail and noticed a bird that was a little different. I saw the feathers on its head and first thought maybe it was a cardinal yet it was bigger and longer than a cardinal. I took a few photos of it to better identify later since it was hiding in the shade. Much to my delight when I got home I figured it out! It has a tan to yellowish coloring on most of its body with a striking black stripe across the top of its beak and eye. It’s wings are grey, black, white, with a red spot, and the end of the tail feathers are yellow tipped. Really quite a beautiful bird so sleek looking like an oil painting which makes sense from this interesting factoid I found while looking this bird up is the genus name Bombycilla , that I mentioned earlier comes from the Ancient Greek bombux “silk” and Modern Latin villa “tail”…. So there you go 😉 They are here in Florida during the winter which explains why I saw it in February which is lucky because that’s when our weather starts getting warmer. The Cedar Waxwing likes to eat cedar cones, fruit, holly berries, and insects. I hope to see another in the winter and hopefully get a clearer photo 🤗 

Bird Nerd Terms

 

     After watching one of my favorite movies “The Big Year” that is based on a book written by Mark Obmascik, I was reminded of a term that has been quite controversial among bird nerds. 

     People often hear the terms ‘birders’ or ‘birding’ and ‘birdwatchers’ or ‘birdwatching’. I know the differences may not be crucial to most but to bird nerds it is an important distinction. There are other similar hobbies like fishing that carry a lot of term differences that mean a lot to the people that participate in it. 

     Bird watchers or bird watching is simply the act of looking at birds. Maybe you are out and notice some birds and just like to watch their flight, quirky behaviors, courtships, or just how they look in general.

     Birders or birding is the actual purposeful act of looking for certain birds. Sometimes to increase a personal life list, or others try to get as many species as they can for instance in a Big Year competition. In competitions like those, like the movie and book mentioned above, you need to look for specific species of birds. 

     So in the above picture is me at around 4 years old. This was just the start of my bird nerdery 🤗🤓 so in the picture I was a bird watcher just happily watching to see whatever bird I could at any given moment. At present I am 40 years old and this year I’ve been sort of a hybrid between the two terms as I enjoy watching birds but also have been doing a unofficial big year just in curiosity to see how many different types I happen to see rather than just checking them off a general list. It’s been a fun life long adventure and I encourage everyone to be a bird watcher or birder to enjoy all our feathered friends whether by happenstance or on purpose 🤗