Bohemian Waxwings eating snow

On 22 February 2015, on my way out of Fish Creek Park, an enormous flock of Bohemian Waxwings swarmed around the tall coniferous trees along the edge of the road. Hundreds of them landed at the tops of these trees and then they would swoop down to the snow-covered ground and eat the snow for a few seconds before flying to the other side of the road and back again. Unfortunately, most of them were in the shade when on the ground.

"Waxwings often drink water or eat snow in winter, since the sugar in their fruit diet tends to dehydrate the birds through an osmotic effect. In the summer, the fruits are juicier and water is less of a problem" (from Wikipedia).

These Bohemian Waxwings visit us in winter and then fly north for the summer, to breed. Here, in summer, we get the Cedar Waxwings instead.

I pulled over to try and get a shot or two - quite the feeling to have so many of these beautiful, sleek birds flying around you when you are standing there. Earlier in the afternoon, this mass of birds landed in the parking lot trees. Interesting to hear the loud "whoosh" when they all took off so close to where we were standing.

"The name "Bohemian" refers to the nomadic movements of winter flocks. It comes from the inhabitants of Bohemia, meaning those that live an unconventional lifestyle or like that of gypsies.

The Bohemian Waxwing does not hold breeding territories, probably because the fruits it eats are abundant, but available only for short periods. One consequence of this non-territorial lifestyle is that it has no true song. It does not need one to defend a territory." From AllAboutBirds.

"The Bohemian waxwing's call is a high trill sirrrr. It is less wavering and lower-pitched than that of the cedar waxwing. Other calls are just variants of the main vocalisation; a quieter version is used by chicks to call parents, and courtship calls, also given during nest construction, have a particularly large frequency range. Although not a call as such, when a flock takes off or lands, the wings make a distinctive rattling sound that can be heard 30 m (100 ft) away." From Wikipedia.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bohemian_waxwing/lifehistory

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_waxwing