Five Cedar Waxwings in a Mulberry tree

[Mousetoescamper]

Sorry, birds. No mulberries as we approach the December Solstice.

[Donkees]

1. Bohemian Waxwings Feeding

[eppur_se_muova]

2. One of my favorite birds -- the bird in the Bill Blass suit.

I only saw two of them in my youth, and one was dead.

Then one day in Little Rock, about ten years ago, I saw three small trees, barren of leaves, just filled with cedar waxwings, all evidently flocking together. Quite a sight!

[Mousetoescamper]

3. They're also one of my favorites. CWs are year-round residents here in

southeastern PA and I see them frequently and always in flocks, large and small.They often come to the mulberry in the photo when the tree's fruiting, usually in July. My photo isn't quite in focus, but I'm glad to have and share a shot of these magnificent birds.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Note to self: plant mulberries. nt

[ShazzieB]

5. I saw a tree full of them once--it was amazing!

It was on the campus of my alma mater, Northern Illinois University, one early spring day, decades ago. Maybe about 1982 or thereabouts.

I was walking across campus and happened on a small tree with bare branches (because it was too early for either flowers or leaves) that was covered with cedar waxwings! I stopped to gaze at them and they gazed back at me for a few moments before I moved on. It was magical.

If such a thing happened nowadays, I'd pull out my phone and take a picture, but of course no such thing was possible back then. I treasure the memory but would love to have been able preserve it with a photo.

[Mousetoescamper]

6. Your recalling that extraordinary moment and wishing to have preserved it in an image

brings up a question I've stood in front of for several years. I wonder how much have I missed over the past 40 or so years when my attention was on operating a camera to capture an image. You've preserved the magic of that singular moment in your memory. Your gazing at the birds and them gazing back at you couldn't be preserved in an image. I wonder if your memory of that moment would have been as vivid if you'd been operating a camera.

On August 21, 2017, my son and I traveled to a spot near the North Carolina-Tennessee border to view a total eclipse of the sun. I was excited to capture images of totality and the corona. I had fashioned a solar lens filter using a lens from a pair of eclipse glasses and a cardboard tube. Here's a shot I took minutes before totality:

?1

I'd placed a towel over my head and the camera body to prevent light from entering the viewfinder. I was completely identified with operating the camera and getting some spectacular shots. At totality, my son said, "What are you doing? You're missing it!" I'm grateful that he was able to bring me to my senses. I threw off the towel and saw not only the solar corona and the disc of the moon covering the sun, but spectral rippling waves of light on the ground, and the dome of the sky in twilight in the afternoon. I didn't get my shot of totality, but their were probably millions of eclipse shots taken the day, most of them with better images than I could have gotten with my entry-level camera and $150 lens.

Thanks for sharing your encounter with the Cedar Waxwings and for enduring my rambling.