Wilson's Warbler

[WhistlingBadger]

Mrs. Badger has been seeing one of these hanging out in the hedge for days (we get quite an assortment this time of year, raiding the chokecherries, hawthorns, crab apples, and honeysuckle berries), but I hadn't spotted it. Today I was home with a monster headache, so I sat outside with binoculars and watched until I spotted him (and his girlfriend, too). This isn't my picture, as they're rather hyperactive critters and the one I saw was gone before I could even think about grabbing the camera, but this is what they look like. Tiny flying gems.

We also have a family of cedar waxwings, two adults and a bunch of scruffy looking adolescents, hanging out gorging on chokecherries. They're among my all-time favorite birds.

 

[GaryE]

Way over east, the cedar waxwings are showing up. Last year I found one that had hit a window, and rather than leave him for the cats (I figured he had a bruised shoulder - no break) I kept him in an empty 30 gallon tank for a few days til he could fly, then released him. He flew off.
I kept contact to minimum - foraged food and fresh water, with no interaction.

I've been using the Merlin bird Identification app, and what I haven't seen but can hear is amazing around here. The diversity...

 

[gwand]

The Merlin app is terrific. It has let me ID about 30 species in my backyard. I have yet to spot a cedar waxwing but I’m hopeful.