Ever Heard of an Earruption?
Ever heard the word “earruption” before, as in an “earruption” of birds? Me neither, probably because there is no such word although it certainly sounds like there should be, especially when one is exposed to a large group of crows or magpies assaulting our ears.
An “earruption” is the phonetic pronunciation of “irruption” of which the generic definition, according to Merriam-Webster, is the rather dire “sudden and violent invasion”. Fortunately, the ecological definition is the much more benign “sudden sharp increase in the relative numbers of a natural population”. In this article, the irruption refers to the otherwise elusive – to Colorado at least - Bohemian Waxwings.
First, a word about Cedar Waxwings, a first-cousin of the Bohemian Waxwings. I love seeing and hearing Cedar Waxwings. They are so distinctive in appearance with their “Zorro-esque” mask (hopefully you’re all old enough to get that reference) and their acrobatic reaching for food.
Image above - Cedar Waxwing stretching acrobatically to get its fruit!
Cedar Waxwings typically travel in large flocks and when they are all sitting together in a tree emit a unique trill call. Although considered widespread in the northern half of North America, I don’t see them all that often so when I do it’s nonstop shutter-click time!
Image above is my favorite Cedar Waxwing image - this one is suspended in flight to pluck the dried fruit. I call this one “A Little Bit of Pluck”
Which leads me to their cousin from Bohemia, the Bohemian Waxwing (no, they are not actually from Bohemia so disregard that). Bohemian Waxwings typically live farther north than Colorado, say, like Canada or even the Arctic. They had not been seen in Colorado in any numbers since 2013. Apparently, it’s not unusual to go 10-20 years without a single Bohemian Waxwing gracing its presence in Colorado. So when on January 1 of this year a team of bird watchers counting birds on the Highline Canal Trail in the southern part of the Denver metro area spotted a small flock of Bohemian Waxwings mixed in with a much larger flock of Cedar Waxwings, the entire birding community went bonkers because we had an irruption of both species.
I admit, I got sucked into the frenzy. I’m normally much more interested in the unusual actions of ordinary birds than photographing rare birds on a perch, but Bohemian Waxwings are exceptionally striking birds and, in fact, have been named one of the nine most beautiful birds in America according to Bird and Bloom magazine (link here to article). So I, too, set out in my car to the “hot spots” where they had been seen – all to no avail, of course.
And then one day I was driving about a mile from my house with the windows down on an unseasonably warm day when I heard the most bizarre group trill. And there they were! Hundreds of mostly Cedar Waxwings with a noticeable smattering of Bohemian Waxwings sitting in a giant cottonwood tree swooping across the street to a small park that had two trees with plenty of dried fruit still on its branches. I parked the car, grabbed my camera (oh, yeah, you better believe it’s ALWAYS with me!), and snapped away.
Image above - Finally found a flock of Bohemian Waxwings!
Image above - The two Bohemian Waxwings on the top of the branch appear to be in a deep existential conversation
Image above - Two Bohemian Waxwings trudge through the snow on a tree limb
The Cedar Waxwings and Bohemian Waxwings are most easily distinguished from each other by color. Cedars have brown faces with some yellow on their breasts while Bohemians sprout cinnamon caps and gray bellies. In the images below the Cedar Waxwing is on the left and the Bohemian Waxwing on the right.
I went back the next day and was amazed to find them still there. My favorite shot is the last one I took that day which I titled “Last Call”. It shows a group of only Bohemian Waxwings in the last light of the day bellying up to the bar for last call (the bar being a puddle of snow melt off the side of the road that evaporated that very night). A few minutes later the light and all the birds were gone, maybe not forever, but at least until the next “earruption”!
Image above - Last Light is the title for this image of a group of Bohemian Waxwings drinking water from a puddle at the last light of the day