Like a plague, sort of, but so pretty

Four days now - two days apart - cedar waxwings have come by in the early morning, swarming the dogwood and the pear in the front, and the berry bushes in the back. So early is it usually that the pictures are just silhouettes (like the last one), or too dark and grainy to keep. But today they came later.

My sister told me of seeing a huge flock swarm a cherry tree in the fall, stripping it of every fruit in a seething mass of tawny with yellow and red and black accents. This flock is much smaller, about a dozen, and they leave a lot behind them when they go - which is why they keep coming back, I suppose. (In fact, they came back Tuesday and I got better shots!)