Pestvogels

…being the German name for Bohemian Waxwing: “plague bird”. Their unpredictable winterer wanderings were once taken as an omen for war or epidemic. “Kriegsvogel” - war bird - is another Germanic moniker.

A museum of Waxwings frequented my home village of Oulton in November 2023 where they enjoyed the bountiful rowans. These are creatures of habit, and will often pause on the uppermost branches to assess which berry sprig to gobble when alighting on their favoured rowan. I positioned myself to take advantage of their pre-landing air-braking which gave these flight shots below.