Happy Thanksgiving

Wild Turkey in tree 😉

Here at BirdingPI.com we have a lot to be thankful for – friends and family, digital (as opposed to film) photography, and indoor plumbing. (Please consider donating to www.water.org – no affiliation – and/or your local food bank.) We are also thankful for birds, because birds are great. Also relatively commonplace, so birding’s not only fun but sometimes non-frustrating, relative to things like wild mammal spotting.

Another thing to be thankful for is birding surprises. Even if you’re not into numbers or focusing just on the “exotic” or “only what’s new,” let’s face it – seeing something new or unexpected is fun. Yesterday, the big surprise was a flock of Cedar Waxwing just near Birding, PI.com HQ! Wow. It’s the latest we’ve seen them through these parts, and we’ll take it.

Cedar Waxwing, Millcreek Township, Pennsylvania

Cedar Waxwing are distinguished from Bohemian Waxwing – which look very similar – by a yellow (instead of white) belly. Bohemian Waxwing also have reddish feathers under the tail, and white wing bars.

European Starlings from a distance
More Cedar Waxwing
Yes, we’re cool and we know it

Today (Thanksgiving), it dawned rainy and overcast in Erie. Still, substantial avian activity including Robin, various Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing, Blue Jay, various Sparrows, and so on.

House Sparrow
Blue Jay
Robin
Pileated Woodpecker from a distance

Time to head to the Birding, PI.com cafeteria for checking on how the beef roast is doing. Hope everyone has a great day!