Jonathan Finch
It’s not often that I write an article off the cuff but that’s exactly what I’m (unwisely) doing. Pinterest sent me lots of lovely photos, one of which is the feature-image for this article. In all my (European) bird-watching days I never ever saw a waxwing, and that’s what I’m presuming the bird in the photo is. I am unlikely ever to see one, given I spend all my time in south-east Asia.* Only this morning we were all complaining via Facebook about a spot of chilly weather that has just hit Thailand. It seems a typhoon is blowing the Philippines to pieces and a tail of cold air is hitting Siam as an afterthought. Chilled to the bone by a drop of 5 degrees celsius, it’s unlikely I will brave European winters when the waxwings sometimes go to hot Britain on winter vacation. That Pinterest picture is an unpleasant reminder that not only is time not on my side but waxwings aren’t, either. I will have to content myself with hornbills, and on that pleasant thought I start to feel better. Just a bit.
<a href="https://incidentalnaturalist.com/2015/07/15/hornbills/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>
* When I googled waxwing in Thailand, I was asked if I wanted “waxing in Thailand”…However, there is a Japanese waxwing, so all is not lost in Asia!
Nice I like it looking great
Yes, I like waxwings though as I mention – never ever seen a single one. The name is also very evocative. As a child I used to imagine seeing them in the garden in London, come all the way from colder Russia. But I never saw one!