Waxwings and all that Jizz

I've just finished reading the book called 'How to be a Bad Birdwatcher' by Simon Barnes, a funny and often philosophical book about the joys of birdwatching and what it can bring to your whole life.  In a recent chapter I read about jizz, which is a word used to describe the general characteristics of a bird and it's behaviour.

Birdsong is probably the best all round ID characteristic but also the hardest with which to get to grips.  Visual ID of size, colour, shape and form is also obviously very good for many birds, and what we all hope to do, but there are many birds which look similar (particularly LBJ's - Little Brown Jobs) or which are difficult to get a good sighting.

Jizz can help identify a bird even when you don't get a clear view of it or hear it's song. The origin of the word is a little unclear, but I favour the explanation that it comes from the term GISS, which the military use to describe the General Impression of Shape and Size, in relation to spotting enemy targets such as aeroplanes, tanks and other vehicles.

In birding terms jizz also includes it's behaviour and that's where today's Waxwing come in.  When I met Charlie Owen last week he explained how the Waxwing fly around in a tight flock for a while looking for a tall tree in sight of some berries, often the red or orange berries of the Rowan tree.  Whilst in the air they look quite like a flock of starlings and it's hard to tell the difference.

Then they congregate on a suitable tall tree top, sit in it for a while and from this high vantage point eye up the tree with the berries.  When the coast is clear of other birds such as blackbirds and thrushes defending the berries, they descend rapidly and raid the berries for 30 seconds to a minute, before returning to the tall tree.

This behaviour as well as their stocky body shape, distinctive head crest and coloured wing tips are all part of the bird's jizz. Fortunately, Waxwing are easy to identify if you get a good look at them and there is no need to rely on jizz, it just helps in understanding the bird's behaviour and how they live.

And today I saw exactly what Charlie meant as I returned to Ramsbottom Road in Horwich to try to get a decent photograph of the Waxwing which have been here for well over a week.  The birds followed the routine mentioned above at least three times whilst I stood in the freezing cold with Adrian Dancy and Ivan all trying to get a good shot.  Both these chaps were dressed in camouflage gear with tripods supporting large 500mm prime lenses on their DSLRs, and so I felt quite inferior standing next to them with my physically smaller second hand 500mm Sigma zoom - yes, I know - lens envy! Ray Ashcroft of Hope Carr Nature Reserve fame also showed up a little later but didn't stay too long after the birds flew off the first time.  We did have time for a quick chat though, which was nice.

The locals must have got used to all this fuss by now and indeed one bloke confirmed this to me as he took his supermarket shopping out of the car and to his house.  Unfortunately there was no-one offering cups of tea and toast today (as reports in the past week have suggested) on a day when really could have done with some.

My photographs are quite disappointing in spite of having some good views of the Waxwing.  It was a very bright, crisp and sunny November day, but the houses on Ramsbottom Road shield the low sunshine from the berry trees.  Therefore they were all in the shade in the morning, and nearly all my photographs are too dark and shades of blue.

I struggled with various exposures, trying to cover as many variations as possible so that I would get a least one good shot, but a combination of the cold weather (I can't operate my camera in gloves and I thought my fingers were going to fall off) and time constraints (I had to pick up Robert and Adam from badminton at Bolton Arena) led to less than satisfactory result on the photographic front.  It was only when I got home that I discovered that I'd had the wrong white balance setting due to fiddling in the dark last night trying to take pictures of Jupiter and it's moons.  Ah well, it's all part of the learning curve I suppose.

That said, I had a very pleasant hour or so chatting with other birders and seeing the Waxwing again.  The trickling chorus made by the 50 strong group of birds whilst sitting in the tall tree before descending to the berries is a favourite memory of the day. Maybe I'll pop down again a little later in the day and try for some more photos.