Look who I ran into yesterday at the park..., a delightful "Earful of Waxwings.." (Bombycilla cedrorum.)
I read recently that the colorful band on their tail is dependent on the fruit that they eat,,, usually either orange or yellow...  Looking at the beautiful red berries on this Hawthorne, its a wonder their tales aren't scarlet red!  They're very busy birds, and quite difficult to photo, because of their constant squabbling, preening, gulping berries on the fly...  but oh they are so very gorgeous.. I forgive them their flighty nature..

Even though they appear to be engrossed in their feasting, they never seemed to take their kohl lined eyes off of me for a second...  and after a few more moments..., they'd had enough of me taking their photo and took off to a nearby tree...

I waited around for several minutes, being quiet and all, hoping they'd come back to the Hawthorne, but with a sudden cry of "zeeeeeeeeetttt, zeeeeeeettttt..., " from them all, they took off...  in a different direction, not to be seen again.

I feel most honored to have found such a large group of them at this time of year...  Usually if I'm lucky, I get to see them in late spring when the Indian plum tree berries ripen...  Such a surprise ..., such a gift.