I'm in southwestern Montana, elevation 4700 ft. Low chill is not an issue here. We live in a high mountain valley, with a short growing season...this year, VERY short! Here, you have to take in consideration not just hardiness zone, but days from bloom to ripen. I found out the hard way that a lot of fruit tree varieties that will grow here will never ripen fruit. Generally, if they can ripen it in Alaska, it will ripen here. Goodland and McIntosh apples are on the "far end" of my growing season. Some years they ripen; other years, not quite (this year looks like another "not quite"). Thanks for the reply on the birds. I see today that the bees are working some of the blossoms that have been "de-petaled," so I think I have a chance of a crop after all.

Sam, Those are great shots! I have first hand experience regarding the beauty of this bird... When I was in high school, (nearly 20 years ago), I loved art class but by no means was I an artist although I could draw birds very well. My art teacher, (In time, I became her pet student), encouraged me to find ways to keep drawing different birds, so I would goto zoos, nature & botanical gardens, and aviaries. It was at a local botanical garden that I saw a pair of courting Waxwings. I was about 15' from them and they kept me entertained for nearly an hour while they passed Crabapple blossoms and petals back and forth to each other. This was the first and only time I drew more than one bird in a single drawing, and the first time I actually impressed myself with how the finished drawing turned out - considering I was on a park bench, on a foggy, misty, cool spring day, with my drawing supplies on my lap, on my bench, on the ground and whatever pencils my two ears would hold. LOL! By the time I graduated from HS I had quite a portfolio of about 125 drawings. My art teacher asked if she could borrow them to show to her students, but that was just a ploy so she could have them professionally mounted in a scrapbook, and she gave it to me for a graduation present. My 2 older sisters are the true artists in the family, and when my sister in Utah heard that they were all put together in a scrapbook she asked if I would be willing to send it to her for awhile, she was a starving artist at the time, so I sent it Fed-Ex and to make an even longer story short, the entire scrapbook was destroyed in a car accident.... I haven't drawn anything, (outside of drafting at work), since then. I did receive $2000 from part of my sister's accident settlement for them, (my sister insisted). If I ever do start drawing again, I think I'll draw roses. :) Anyway, (sorry for the life story - it just brought back some good memories and some not-so good), it is a gorgeous bird and one that gave me an experience I will never forget. Thanks for letting me hi-jack your thread Sam, BC:)

Thanks for the heads up, Kristi! Yes, I know what you mean about hearing them. That's how I usually find them, too, as they have a very distinctive chittering sort of sound they make. (I hope I can still hear them this year, but I've lost a lot of high-frequency sounds. Everyone was enjoying listening to a catbird yesterday at Emeralda Marsh, and I couldn't hear a thing!) Waxwings are so beautiful! They look like satin, they are so smooth. Beautiful markings on their faces, and that little dot of red is cool, isn't it? They have an endearing habit of sitting on a line or branch and taking a berry and passing it down the line, one bird to the other, with the last one getting to eat it. Hope I see some soon. Pictures for those of you who have never seen one or don't know what they look like: You can see in this picture that what looks like a small red spot on the feathers (in the photo above) is actually a tipping of a heavier type on the ends of certain feathers. That's the "wax" of "waxwing." It reminded early settlers of the sealing wax that was used on envelopes. For more info, including songs, check out the link below. These are lovely birds and watching flocks of them come through on migration is a lot of fun. Marcia Here is a link that might be useful: Cedar Waxwing Info & Song

Finally saw our first waxwings this week in our blueberries. To me, the arrival of waxwings in southern Il seems strange. I associate the waxwing as a northern bird. However, they don't arrive here till mid June and stay sometimes two or three months before disappearing. Most birds migrate through here much earlier and stay a month at the most. We also are enjoying our towhee every single day as he visits the ground surrounding our feeders. I only see one though. We are fortunate to have loads of cardinals; and, yesterday, he spent a good half hour chasing one particular female around. I think the poor lovelorn thing must be getting desperate. Finally, our summer tanagers are back, and I have been blessed with some real close encounters with them. They like to hang out at our red raspberries and blackberries and have a very unique vocalization.