So when I saw on Irishbirding that a waxwing was seen in Crumlin I was a bit put out. Traitors.
I walked around the park and saw a tree where they might be,it was full of Redwings, but no Waxwings, so I walked on. Nothing looked too promising, I walked around the park again and back to the area I originally figured they might be. Again, lots of Redwings, Song thrushes, Blackbirds and some Starlings. Then I saw these..
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| Exciting silhouettes |
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| Very exciting silhouette |
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| Waxwings, 4pm, Stanaway Park, Crumlin, Dublin 12. Flock of 8. |
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| Waxwing |
As you can see from the above photos, I got there pretty late in the day. If I had got there a little earlier, I would have got decent photos with more light, but I'm happy enough with these.
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| flipping wind, ruining my do. |
It was great to see the Waxwings in Crumlin and it was really lovely to hear them, their song is really soft and gentle to listen to. Pity I won't get another chance to see them again until January now, but at least I got to see them today. In the park I also saw 8 Long Tailed tits over near some changing rooms.
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| Song Thrush, Stanaway Park, Crumlin |
I wasn't the only one who got to see the Waxwings. I was telling passers by, whether they were interested or not about them.
2 women with their shopping were definitely not interested.
But three little kids, about 7 years old, seeing my camera lens, were - as they shouted over at me:
'Hey, are you a journalist?',
'No',
'Journalists aren't welcome in Crumlin' (7 years old!),
'I'm not a journalist, I'm looking at the birds.'
'Why you going round looking at birds (good question), what company do you work for?'
'Look', I said and I pointed up at the Waxwings.
They looked up, and I told them a bit about where the Waxwings had come from, why they were in Ireland and gave them my binoculars, hoping they wouldn't run off with them.
They didn't so I showed them how to focus on the birds etc.
They were silent and genuinely interested, like I think most kids genuinely are, once you calm them down.
'They're on pokemon!', one of them said, the others started laughing at him.
'No, honest there's waxwings on pokemon, with the mad hairdo's, there are, I'm telling you'.
They all got a look at the Waxwings and were excited by how unusual they looked.
'Those waxwings are cool missus, I'm going to tell me da' and off they ran.
I couldn't make that up.
Never played pokemon in my life and don't know what the little lad was talking about
