June 2010

STILL AND INVISIBLE

Most people know the Bohemian Waxwing as a winter guest. In the summer they disappear, and it is thought that they go to Lapland to nest. That is only part of the truth. Wagwings actually nest as far as the southern Ostrobothnia. In my native region, Töysä, I knew a few backwoods with ponds, where waxwings were often found in spring.

In winter waxwings eat berries but when summer comes they start eating insects. They are very skillful in catching mosquitos in flight. You often find it in trees by forest ponds, where they take off after flying insects.
Bohemian waxwings make their nest a few meters above ground level. All waxwings' nests I have seen have been in a spruce, except for one, which was high up on a pine branch.

Their nest behaviour is very discreet. When you come across a wagwing's nest, they don't make any noise or otherwise manifest the closeness of the nest. I have found several waxwings' nests, as I have come across a wagwing sitting at the top of a tree in June. In some nearby tree, there is a nest and a mate brooding.

The younglings already leave the nest when they are not quite able to fly. When a wanderer
approaches, they shrivel and stop moving. They instinctly know that moving will reveal them.

Kuusamo, Soilu, June 1982
Technique: Canon H-1, 1.2/85mm, Kodachrome 64