Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
After church today we blew off some things we felt we should do and instead went for a walk at the Agricultural History Farm Park. We started, as we usually do, at the shade and demonstration gardens. Then, instead of walking over towards the barn and house, we walked down to the small stream that runs into Rock Creek just below the bridge for the road into the park. There is a place where a trail fords that stream and leads to a trail around a large field and also connects to the Redlands Rock Creek Trail after crossing Muncaster Road. It was quite hot today and we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. Around that area there was a fair amount of bird activity and it was fairly shady, so we loitered there for a while.
Cathy turned on the Merlin app, which at one point heard a cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). Although I didn’t really expect to see one, it suddently flew across the trail and landed in the shade of a juniper. It’s quite back-lit, making this the best I could do, but it’s pretty clear what the bird is, anyway.