Historical perspective on Bohemians?

[Jared Del Rosso]

I'd love to hear from long-time birders about their experiences with Bohemian Waxwings prior to this year! While eBird tells part of the story, I'd love to hear more about these past encounters -- including but not limited to where, how many, when, what the birds were up to, and anything else that stood out. I think it would help those of us who are newer to the state and/or birding (like me) appreciate the encounters we're having this winter. 

Here's my contribution, which isn't my contribution.

W. H. Bergtold, who I wrote about for the October 2022 issue of DFO's The Lark Bunting, reported Bohemian Waxwings "all over [Denver] in great numbers, from February 22 to April 8, 1917, when the last two were seen in Cheesman Park." This brief account appears in The Wilson Bulletin in Bergtold's 1917 list of Denver birds. 

Oddly, Bergtold has a single account of a Cedar Waxwing listed in the same essay: "Cedar Waxwing. Seen in Berkeley, February, 1906." Might Denver's birders have once chased that Cedar as we've been out looking for Bohemians?

Finally, I'll note Joe Roller's eBird report of Bohemian Waxwings in his S. Yates home in 1991. Joe had told me that he'd had large flocks of Bohemian Waxwings in his yard, but I couldn't find it on the eBird map, thinking his home was closer to Wash Park and the encounter more recent. (Perhaps this is a previous home?) In any case, his brief note on the historical checklist tells us that 1991 was an invasion year for Bohemians: "Had large flocks throughout winter, lingering into spring. Larger than nearby Cedar Waxwings, rusty under tail coverts; 'mean' looking facies." I suspect "facies" is a typo, but with Joe I can't be sure. It's also apparently a medical term! I'll also admit to not realizing that Bohemians appear mean, though I indeed think that of Mountain Chickadees.

I checked DFO's newsletter archives, and Bohemians were reported on DFO trips from November 1990 (Barr Lake, three in total) through mid-April of 1991 (150+ in Lakewood). 

Briefly -- occasional sightings of a female/immature type Cassin's Finch and a White-throated Sparrow in my Centennial yard. Yesterday encountered a flock of robins and a small number of Bohemian Waxwings as they descended on an errant Buckthorn in a neighborhood yard near University and Orchard. I stopped briefly and made everyone in my car ooh and aah. 

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

lonesomewhippoorwill.com

[Bill Schmoker]

Hi Jared- love this and looking forward to also hearing from CO long-timers!

I have two stories to tell, starting with 1987.  That year the Boulder CBC tallied 11,284 Bohemian Waxwings, which for years was the all-time Christmas Bird Count high count.  (Can any Boulder long-timers fill in more details on this mega year?)  Anchorage AK has since surpassed that but nice to know that for a while we were record holders.  I didn't participate in the count yet but I remember (as will my then dorm-mate Scottt Severs) seeing big flocks on the CSU campus that winter up in Fort Collins.  The Boulder CBC also had a strong precursor count in 1986 with 2135 and other standout years in 1968 (4200) and 1983 (2530.)  Boulder has tallied Bohemians 24 times out of 81 counts.

In 2007 the Longmont CBC tallied a very nice 1366 Bohemians.  That year set my personal high mark, with my team tallying 825 in our territory.  But even better were ~2100 in my Longmont back yard on 29 Dec., a count I arrived at by photographing what I could of the massive flock and extrapolating.  Here's a shot of 698 BOWAs, which I estimated to be 1/3 to 1/4 of the total flock.  I counted each bird by digitally dotting them, changing color every 100 birds to help visualize the magnitude of the flock.

Enjoy- Bill Schmoker, Boulder CBC Compiler

p.s.  My BOWA count so far this winter is... 0!  :-(

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[Matt Newport]

While not having seen more than 2 total birds in Colorado during this invasion and feeling I have been missing out, I was blessed to have run into a large flock yesterday in eastern Aurora. I rolled up to a park and with a couple of smaller Crabapple trees with many robins and a few Ceder waxwings. After a short walk I returned and noted the same number of robins and waxwings. Got back into the car and just as I started the car, I noted a huge flock of birds come in from nowhere...ALL Bohemians. It was magical really to stand 15ft from this huge flock of Bohemians, at least 175 counted.

Matt Newport

Aurora, Arapaho county

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[Deborah Carstensen]

Such amazing information!! I really appreciate everyone’s posting on the waxwings. ( I wanted to ask peoples opinion about the history of waxwing numbers in Colorado but was afraid I would just be referred to eBird to try to figure it out myself. 😏😉) I can’t believe the huge numbers that have been here in the past, astonishing!

Thanks!

Deb Carstensen, Arapahoe county 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 29, 2023, at 6:59 PM, Matt Newport <mnew...@gmail.com> wrote:



While not having seen more than 2 total birds in Colorado during this invasion and feeling I have been missing out, I was blessed to have run into a large flock yesterday in eastern Aurora. I rolled up to a park and with a couple of smaller Crabapple trees with many robins and a few Ceder waxwings. After a short walk I returned and noted the same number of robins and waxwings. Got back into the car and just as I started the car, I noted a huge flock of birds come in from nowhere...ALL Bohemians. It was magical really to stand 15ft from this huge flock of Bohemians, at least 175 counted.

Matt Newport

Aurora, Arapaho county

On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 6:18 PM Bill Schmoker <bill.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Jared- love this and looking forward to also hearing from CO long-timers!

I have two stories to tell, starting with 1987.  That year the Boulder CBC tallied 11,284 Bohemian Waxwings, which for years was the all-time Christmas Bird Count high count.  (Can any Boulder long-timers fill in more details on this mega year?)  Anchorage AK has since surpassed that but nice to know that for a while we were record holders.  I didn't participate in the count yet but I remember (as will my then dorm-mate Scottt Severs) seeing big flocks on the CSU campus that winter up in Fort Collins.  The Boulder CBC also had a strong precursor count in 1986 with 2135 and other standout years in 1968 (4200) and 1983 (2530.)  Boulder has tallied Bohemians 24 times out of 81 counts.

In 2007 the Longmont CBC tallied a very nice 1366 Bohemians.  That year set my personal high mark, with my team tallying 825 in our territory.  But even better were ~2100 in my Longmont back yard on 29 Dec., a count I arrived at by photographing what I could of the massive flock and extrapolating.  Here's a shot of 698 BOWAs, which I estimated to be 1/3 to 1/4 of the total flock.  I counted each bird by digitally dotting them, changing color every 100 birds to help visualize the magnitude of the flock.

Enjoy- Bill Schmoker, Boulder CBC Compiler

p.s.  My BOWA count so far this winter is... 0!  :-(

<BOWA_flock2.JPG>

<BOWA_count2_dotted.jpg>

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[Cinnamon Bergeron]

Good morning,

Thank you all for sharing this exciting and interesting Bohemian Waxwing history. 

How do we get an estimate on how many Bohemian Waxwings are here in Colorado during this 2022-2023 Winter?

Many people are reporting the same flocks. 

500 here… 800 there… over 1000 in another spot. And they are constantly moving around. 

There are some big flocks here in Colorado Springs. I have been lucky to see them a few times already, which has been amazing. 

I am interested in knowing how we can get a realistic count since this all happened after the Christmas bird count. 

Just curious,

Cinnamon Bergeron 

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[woodcr...@comcast.net]

Hi Jared and COBirders

I grew up in Boulder in the late 1950s and 1960s. Bohemian Waxwings were one of the big reasons I became interested in birds. My parent's house was on 43rd St. (my mom still lives there) and it had a large picture window with berry producing juniper bushes outside. I remember very large flocks of Bohemians on several occasions covering these bushes about four feet from my face as we stood at the window watching! At times there were probably 200-300 birds! This was probably 1963 or 64 before I started note taking. My notes show irruptions (using the more than four criteria) in 1968, 73, 74, 79 and 84. Most of my old records from the mid 60s to the late 80s are not in ebird. The current numbers of birds is definitely spectacular!

Steve Larson

Northglenn, CO

[Matt Webb]

Hey all,

I always enjoy hearing about people's experiences with specific birds or species!  Bohemian (and Cedar!) Waxwings have always been an important bird to me, as they are the main reason that I got back into birding (and now work with birds full time!).

As a kid I had been into birds and birding, even begging my mom to take me on a Christmas Bird Count in the Salida area when I was 7 or so.  (As my mom tells it, the adults were annoyed with such a young kid being there until I started pointing out birds they didn't see.)  When I would look at my birds books, I would spend hours looking at the waxwings just thinking they were so lovely.  I always thought it would be impossible to see them because they seemed so magical and the tiny maps in the book didn't appear to include southern Colorado.  My interests shifted as I entered my teens and picked up various instruments and garage bands.  Fast forward to 2008 (when I was in my early 30's), and I was reading an article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan (local newspaper) about the dam project that was being debated north of town.  In that article they talked about the wildlife that uses the Cache la Poudre River, and mentioned that Cedar Waxwings nest along the river corridor through town.  What!? I could see these birds here?  The next day I picked up a $20 pair of binoculars from Jax and began searching for them.  I was a student at Front Range Community College, and my wife and I would go on walks through the nearby neighborhoods during our breaks.  One day in late January we found both species going crazy over a tree full of withering crabapples in the front yard of a house just south of campus.  (Here's my eBird list of that day, my first viewing of both species: https://ebird.org/checklist/S3460064).  As we watched the birds, one Bohemian waxwing ate a bunch of the crabapples, jumped into the air and darted directly into the front window of the house, slamming into it hard.  It flew right back to the same branch, shook off the impact, then fell dead to the ground.  I was able to pick the bird up and look at it in my hand, which was pretty intense but also very incredible.  I set the dead bird back down and we went back to school, writing about the experience on my Myspace account that evening.  haha, remember Myspace?

Several years later, I found myself working with bird-window collisions for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and would often bring waxwing specimens from the museum collection out when giving talks about the dangers of windows.  After returning to Fort Collins, I have wondered about seeing Bohemian Waxwings again, and have been very excited to be able to see a few this winter.  It's great to have them back in the state, and fun to see everyone else enjoying them as well!  Thanks for letting me tell you my story about these amazing birds.

Now back to work! 

Matt

Matthew M Webb

Avian Ecologist and Motus Wildlife Tracking System Coordinator

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

Motus project #281

970.482.1707 x36 (office)

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On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 4:17 PM <woodcr...@comcast.net> wrote:

Hi Jared and COBirders

I grew up in Boulder in the late 1950s and 1960s. Bohemian Waxwings were one of the big reasons I became interested in birds. My parent's house was on 43rd St. (my mom still lives there) and it had a large picture window with berry producing juniper bushes outside. I remember very large flocks of Bohemians on several occasions covering these bushes about four feet from my face as we stood at the window watching! At times there were probably 200-300 birds! This was probably 1963 or 64 before I started note taking. My notes show irruptions (using the more than four criteria) in 1968, 73, 74, 79 and 84. Most of my old records from the mid 60s to the late 80s are not in ebird. The current numbers of birds is definitely spectacular!

Steve Larson

Northglenn, CO

On 01/29/2023 5:24 PM Jared Del Rosso <jared.d...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'd love to hear from long-time birders about their experiences with Bohemian Waxwings prior to this year! While eBird tells part of the story, I'd love to hear more about these past encounters -- including but not limited to where, how many, when, what the birds were up to, and anything else that stood out. I think it would help those of us who are newer to the state and/or birding (like me) appreciate the encounters we're having this winter. 

Here's my contribution, which isn't my contribution.

W. H. Bergtold, who I wrote about for the October 2022 issue of DFO's The Lark Bunting, reported Bohemian Waxwings "all over [Denver] in great numbers, from February 22 to April 8, 1917, when the last two were seen in Cheesman Park." This brief account appears in The Wilson Bulletin in Bergtold's 1917 list of Denver birds. 

Oddly, Bergtold has a single account of a Cedar Waxwing listed in the same essay: "Cedar Waxwing. Seen in Berkeley, February, 1906." Might Denver's birders have once chased that Cedar as we've been out looking for Bohemians?

Finally, I'll note Joe Roller's eBird report of Bohemian Waxwings in his S. Yates home in 1991. Joe had told me that he'd had large flocks of Bohemian Waxwings in his yard, but I couldn't find it on the eBird map, thinking his home was closer to Wash Park and the encounter more recent. (Perhaps this is a previous home?) In any case, his brief note on the historical checklist tells us that 1991 was an invasion year for Bohemians: "Had large flocks throughout winter, lingering into spring. Larger than nearby Cedar Waxwings, rusty under tail coverts; 'mean' looking facies." I suspect "facies" is a typo, but with Joe I can't be sure. It's also apparently a medical term! I'll also admit to not realizing that Bohemians appear mean, though I indeed think that of Mountain Chickadees.

I checked DFO's newsletter archives, and Bohemians were reported on DFO trips from November 1990 (Barr Lake, three in total) through mid-April of 1991 (150+ in Lakewood). 

Briefly -- occasional sightings of a female/immature type Cassin's Finch and a White-throated Sparrow in my Centennial yard. Yesterday encountered a flock of robins and a small number of Bohemian Waxwings as they descended on an errant Buckthorn in a neighborhood yard near University and Orchard. I stopped briefly and made everyone in my car ooh and aah. 

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

lonesomewhippoorwill.com

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[Matt Webb]

Sorry if you got a half-finished version of my story - I accidentally sent it before I was done writing.  (dangers of communicating via Slack while writing emails!)

Matthew M Webb

Avian Ecologist and Motus Wildlife Tracking System Coordinator

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

Motus project #281

970.482.1707 x36 (office)

970.405.7155 (mobile - use this number!)

www.birdconservancy.org

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[Doug Ward]

Matt,

 

Thank you for sharing your (birding) origin story and how the waxwings played an important role in your life’s path – a very fun read!!  You are not the first to be ignited by these guys – think Steve may have a few years on you – and certainly won’t be the last.  Let’s hope this year’s Bohemian Waxwing incursion will spark a few young lights.

 

Thank you as well Jarod for kicking off all these recollections, and various levels of historic data dumps, from the COBirds community - as always fascinating and informative.  For me it has been a bit of affirmation that my mind still has some functionality.  I grew up in the Denver/Boulder area not far behind Mr. Larson and recall Bohemians being pretty regular with the occasional large scale irruptions as many folks have recounted (do remember that crazy  winter of 1987-88 in Boulder); actually would get more excited finding a few Cedars.  As I’ve mentioned previously, we moved to North Idaho in 2000, then started coming back regularly a little over seven years ago to spend the winter and springs in Colorado.  So when asked by a local Denver birder a couple of years ago to let him know if I found any Bohemians in town as he needed one for his county list, my reply was “Really?!?”.  I began to wonder if I was “misremembering” their abundance, or had there been a change in the bird’s population?  Now I understand the current interest as these beauts are no longer regular at all.  Northern Colorado used to be part of the normal wintering range for Bohemians, but now the southern portion of this range seems to have retreated northward.  This shift in occurrence, like the numerous species now wintering in southern Colorado, is sadly another reminder that our climate has shifted as well.  Our birds and their population dynamics are almost literally “canaries in the coal mine”, so the collective information we gather and report in pursuit of our hobby (ie; CBCs, BBSs, Breeding Bird Atlases, DFO field trips, eBird, …) is key in understanding our World today as an accumulation of history – Steve, you and I need to get off our asses and plow those missing decades of data into eBird!!

 

So again, thank you Matt and Jarod for your contributions to this forum.  Let’s all enjoy this current irruption of one of Nature’s finest while we can, who knows when we get the next one.

 

Good Birding,

Doug

Denver

 

PS – On a somewhat related note, while not quite the intensity of the Cassin’s Finch irruption during the spring of 2020, there do seem to be a number in the lowlands this year and we were fortunate to have a female type CASSIN’S FINCH come into our feeders in southwest Denver (Athmar Park, Denver Co., CO) today (Tues., 31 Jan.’23).  Keep your eyes and ears open while out hunting for your next flock of waxwings!

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[Libby Edwards]

I love these stories is why I still read Cobird!

Thank you do much. 

Cassins male and female, Evening grosbeaks, and a flock of Bohemians in my yard this week!

Libby Edwards

North Fort Collins 

On Jan 31, 2023, at 11:16 AM, Matt Webb <matt...@birdconservancy.org> wrote:



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[Brandon]

In Southern Colorado, the last eruption of Bohemian Waxwings was in February 2005, there were 3,000+ around Lathrop State Park, Huerfano County.  Between 2005 and 2022, I only saw Bohemian Waxwings in Colorado in 2013 in Fremont County, a small number.  

Colorado Christmas Bird Counts this winter, found some Bohemian Waxwings, though the big numbers were mostly found after the Christmas Bird Count season was over.  Since not all the results are in yet, I don't know how many counts found them, and how many.  

Though so far, six counts found them, with a total of 250 birds.  

Denver (urban) CBC - 1

Douglas County CBC - 37

Granby CBC - 60

Gunnison CBC - 30

Loveland CBC - 81

Weldona-Fort Morgan CBC - 41

 

Brandon Percival

Colorado CBC Regional Editor
Pueblo West, CO

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[SeEttaM]

I suspect the 2013 Bohemian Waxwings Brandon noted he saw in Fremont County were likely in the flock I posted about on my blog that were fly catching aerial insects at now closed Holcim Wetlands. 

My only other sighting in southern Colorado was of few Bohemian Waxwings I remember seeing in Salida around 2015 but I didn't post them anywhere.

SeEtta Moss 

Canon City 

[Diana Beatty]

I thought folks might appreciate the observations of Charles Aiken as he noted in The Birds of El Paso County, 1914:

Bohemian Waxwing - 

"Winter visitor; irregular; not seen at all many winters.  

The first note we have of this species is January, 1872, when Aiken saw a flock in Barnes's Canyon, near Turkey Creek [near Aiken Canyon today], and a note that Carter killed on on Pike's Peak [note the old-style name of America's mountain] the fall of 1871.

"There are specimens in the Aiken collection taken on Cheyenne Mountain, January and February, 1880.  There were some around the winter of 1910-11, and they were in Colorado Springs, February 26, 1911.

"Aiken noted at Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1894, that in the late afternoon the Waxwings, which had been about neglected orchards near the town feeding on the apples still hanging to the trees, began to fly in flocks up the canyons toward the mountains, evidently going to their roosting places in the green timber."

Cedar Waxwing

"Noticed only two or three times in the earlier part of the winter [1872].  5 or 6 seen on Beaver Creek by Aiken, October 17, 1872.  This was just over the line into Fremont County.  Several were also seen by him just south of Colorado Springs, August 8, 1897."

In the 1991 Birds of Colorado by Robert Andrews and Robert Righter, they noted two summer records of Bohemian Waxwing:  August 5, 1917 in Denver County and July 13, 1924 at Lost Park (12,000 ft), in Park County.  They claim in their notes that the species generally does not mix with Cedar Waxwings, and state that movements of Cedar Waxwing do not appear to coincide with those of the Bohemian Waxwing.

My own questions/comments - 

1.  About Aiken's Salt Lake City note, I observed something extremely similar while watching the waxwings between North and Cheyenne Canyon in early January this year.    In late afternoon, as soon as the sun dipped behind the very near peaks (but still a few hours before sunset), the flock en masse took off and appeared to head to the location in South Cheyenne Canyon where they had been reported roosting in the early morning.

2.  About the Birds of Colorado note that the two species do not appear to mix and their movements do not appear to coincide - how sure are we about that?  This winter in El Paso County I have definitely seen much larger numbers and wider spread incidences of Cedar Waxwing, not just Bohemian, and I have often encountered groups of birds that contained both species.  This could be incidental, taking advantage of the same food sources, but both seem to be in increased numbers this winter - could some have also 'irrupted' concurrent with the Bohemians?  

Diana Beatty

El Paso County

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“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

[Diana Beatty]

Quick correction:  not "Birds of Colorado" but Colorado Birds - is the correct title for the work by Andrews and Righter.  There is a Birds of Colorado by Alfred M Bailey  and Robert J. Niedrach.

Diana Beatty

El Paso County

[Chip Clouse]

CoBirders,

Yes, 2013 seems to have been a good irruption year for Bohemian Waxwings (BOWA) too. I chased a huge flock being seen near Loveland at Simpson Ponds SWA in mid-March of that year. These were my eBird lifers (first time reported to eBird) though I had seen them almost 2 decades earlier in MT and in AK.

I'm one of those birders that hasn't managed to find a huge flock this year. I've had a total of 6 in a mixed flock in junipers near Marston Lake a couple days ago after at least 6 visits to the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt. I keep looking...

Good Birding,

Chip Clouse

Lakewood

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[Chip Clouse]

And this may explain my bad luck at the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt since I was usually looking in the late afternoon after working and while walking the dog. They were probably all headed to their evening roosts by the time I arrived. 

Good Birding,

Chip Clouse

Lakewood

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[Mitchell, Christina]

In 2007, the still-pretty-nascent Salida CBC reported 3,025 Bohemian Waxwings in and around town. As I recall, it was the high count for the state that year.  A tiny claim to fame for this lovely little mountain CBC.

 

Tina Mitchell

Then, Lakewood/Coaldale, CO

Now, Oceanside, CA

 

[Jared Del Rosso]

I want to thank everyone for sharing their amazing memories of Bohemian Waxwings in Colorado, particularly around the Denver-Aurora metro area. It seems one underlying lesson is that Bohemians were much more regular and common around Denver than they have been over the last twenty or thirty years. Perhaps these past decades have been a blip in the bird's natural history? Or perhaps this is a change--owing to changing populations, warming winters, or perhaps changing landscapes north of us? I guess time (and ornithologists, helped by our eBird reports) will tell. Nationally, the species' winter incursions into the upper Midwest and New England hasn't changed much over the past half-century, at least according to Birds of the World. A surge was documented in the 1970s, which is attributed to the banning of DDT.

I want to share one artifact from DFO's newsletter archive. (The archive is great, preserving old trip data on a month-to-month basis. Perhaps DFO members will one day enter this data in eBird?)

The January 1969 newsletter reports on the December 1968 Christmas Bird Counts around Denver. It sounds like it was a rather harsh month. Denver's count, organized by Hugh Kingery, faced snow all day. (I think this is the western count, not the urban Denver count.) Still, they recorded 92 species, one fewer than the Count's then-record set in 1967. This included 2,922 Bohemian Waxwings, then a record for this count.

The newsletter ends the CBC account with this curious note. I've bolded what stood out to me!: "Let's hope we don't face weather like this again for several years: Denver, snowing all day, while our astronauts shot off for the moon under blue skies. Idaho Springs: '~ 20-30 mph winds, snowing at higher elevations."

In December 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crewed spaceship to reach the moon. Strange to see this bit of historical trivia cached in a DFO newsletter!

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

lonesomewhippoorwill.com