No birder can be unaware of this year’s waxwing irruption, with social media platforms literally deluged with beautiful images of these stunning birds gulping down rowan berries and just posing like the icy, unapproachable Scandinavian supermodels that they are.
I mentioned in the last post that I had been blessed with a momentary glimpse of a flock of waxwings on a recent visit to Barca, but my subsequent attempts to find them in that area were proving fruitless.
I dragged my dog up and down the banks of the River Hornád a couple of times hoping to find a waxwing or two on the mistletoe-laden poplar trees, but again with no success. This grey heron among the berries was a welcome sight, but not quite what I was looking for.
I also visited Rači Potok several times, the sight of my last waxwing sighting in March 2017, but still no sign. However, the icy conditions had drawn the water rails out of hiding, and I was very pleased with the views of this usually secretive bird. There are at least three rails in this area, and I hope that I will be lucky enough to see them regularly throughout the winter.
I also spent some time checking out the mistletoe on the trees around the Technical University campus during my regular lunchtime dog walks, but still no sign of waxwings. As I scanned the treetops, however, the regular flushings of pigeons told me that there were goshawks or sparrowhawks in the vicinity; I got the camera out of the bag fast enough to get a shot of a passing goshawk as it beat low and fast through the foggy city skies.
And a few days later there were much better views of a large sparrowhawk as it perched on a tall apartment block on my street. None of the local birds could relax for the half hour it spent surveying the locality; the whole area was seething with the agitation of pigeons, fieldfares and even hooded crows.
So I have to admit that I had more or less given up hope of seeing waxwings again. Maybe I would be luckier in another seven years or so, I thought to myself as I trudged through the cold December sleet of the TUKE campus with my dog. My mild disappointment was made a little sharper when my phone pinged to tell me that my birding friend had found some waxwings about 30km from Košice after following up on a tip from eBird.
Immediately after the message, however, I heard an unusual shrill whistling and the very agitated cries of a mistle thrush. When I quickly scanned the area, I almost shouted out loud; there was a flock of around 100 waxwings about ten metres in front of me; as I was out without the camera, I grabbed some shots with my mobile.
Once again, my poor dog was dragged along the road back to my flat at full speed so that I could pick up the camera and head back for some better photos. The light was not perfect but I managed to get a few quick shots of the large flock as they flitted around the trees.
The mistletoe diet was obviously causing some birds some problems, with several of the flock trailing viscous yellow gobbets behind them…
The flock flushed as a noisy truck passed and took up a picturesque new position on a large radio antenna.
There was no denying the distress of the local mistle thrush however, and I really had to sympathize with this bird. It has probably never seen a waxwing in its life, and suddenly a huge mob of them turn up and strip its winter berry stash clean in a matter of hours. Quite how this waxwing irruption will affect local thrush populations over the harsh winter months is perhaps a consequence that few birders are concerned about…
However, despite my thrush reflections, I couldn’t help but be drawn to these gorgeous invaders from the north. I quickly wrote to another birding friend to tell him to come over, but when he arrived 30 minutes later, the flock had already gone.
When I returned with my dog the next day, I was worried that the flock would have moved on, but they were still in the area. I called my friend again and he was there within minutes and was rewarded with even better views than the day before.
On Thursday, the flock were still around, and the fog finally cleared to allow some better shots of these flamboyant creatures.
So this is perhaps the perfect end to an amazing year of birding; one of Europe’s most beautiful birds turning up on masse only a few hundred metres from my apartment. I’m not sure how long they will hang around for, but let’s hope that 2024 starts with as a big a bang as that which brought 2023 to a close…
Košice Patch Birding 