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Bill Leslie: Sudden flock of visitors a delight amid dark coronavirus news

This morning Cindy and I were drinking coffee on our screened porch with Rufus in my lap when we noticed unusual activity in the trees behind our house. It was almost like birds falling from the sky.

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Cedar waxwings in Bill Leslie's Cary back yard
CARY, N.C. — This morning Cindy and I were drinking coffee on our screened porch with Rufus in my lap when we noticed unusual activity in the trees behind our house.

It was almost like birds falling from the sky.

Cindy does have an outstanding reputation among the feathered-friend families for the delicious, no-mess seed blend she puts in our feeders. We always get a lot of birds in our backyard, but this morning was different.

Birds seemed to be sliding down the trees. At first we thought they were going after the food. We later realized it was the water in the birdbath.

There were a lot of these birds. We were not familiar with them. Cindy asked me to take a photograph. I grabbed my Canon camera with the longest lens I could find and shot this picture through a window of our sunroom.  I realized these birds had not received the memo about social distancing!

I could take only two pictures before the birds were gone. They had emptied the water in the birdbath in just a couple of minutes. I guess they were thirsty or needed a quick bath.

Cindy refilled the birdbath, but the birds did not return. They were out of sight.

We finished our coffee inside and Cindy pulled out our Audubon Society North American Bird Guide. As best we can determine these were Cedar Waxwings who paid us a visit this morning.

We read that Waxwings spend most of the year in flocks, and their movements can be spontaneous and erratic. They love berries. In fact, Audubon reports hundreds will suddenly appear in an area "to exploit a crop of berries, only to vanish when that crop is exhausted.”

We also learned that Cedar Waxwings are very social, and they have a cute habit of “passing berries from one bird to the next down a long row sitting on a tree branch, until one bird eats the food!”

We’ve enjoyed seeing our usual backyard friends including cardinals, bluebirds, sparrows and many more. With spring we always look forward to the hummingbirds.

Today’s visit from the Waxwings was an unexpected pleasure. Now we hope they will come back and stay a little longer. We loved their company, and it was good to get our minds off COVID-19 for a while.

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