Visited Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio on Memorial Day.  Saw a gazillion Cedar Waxwings flying from Tulip Tree to Tulip Tree.  Initially, I knew that there were Waxwings around from all the "Thissing" sounds that were coming from everyware.  The Tulip Trees were in bloom and they must be a favorite food source.  Greenlawn has a lot of Tulip Trees.  They were moving in a flock of a dozen or so from tree to tree.  I saw a flock of about 4 dozen take off at one time and leave Greenlawn.  I thought, "well..there they go."  Only to find that there were still flocks of Waxwings everywhere. 
 
Noticed, what appeared to be, a mating ritual where a pair of Waxwings would pair up on a branch, touch beaks and then take a side step away from each other.  They would then take a side step towards each other and touch beaks again.  This would be repeated in quick secession 10 to 15 times.  Saw this several times with several pairs.  Interesting?!
 
But the "Most" interesting find of the day was by the "Bridge."  I have only "Birded" for a few years now, but, have witnessed "a couple" of birds.  Lifted my binoculars and saw a bird that made me say.."Hmm...I don't think I've ever seen this one before.  I'm going to have to look this one up."  I had a very good sighting.  A little later I came upon a fellow birder who had been on a bird walk there earlier in the morning at Greenlawn.  She claimed that they saw a Yellow Bellied Flycatcher in the same area.  I said to myself,..."self, looks like I you got yourself a new Life Bird."  But, I had some doubts???  
 
The bird I saw didn't look like a flycatcher.  It was too big.  Not a flycatcher's beak.  To me it looked more like a Kingbird.  But, the Kingbirds I have seen had a darker back and a white front.  This bird had a grey head, brown wings and a yellow breast.  But, boy, it sure did look like a Kingbird.
 
Googled Yellow Bellied Flycatcher.  Yes a flycatcher, but, not the bird I saw.  Googled Kingbird.  Found the Western Kingbird and, yes, that is exactly the bird I saw.  
 
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.surfbirds.com/media/gallery_photos/20050612055117.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.surfbirds.com/namericanbirds/american-robin.html&h=467&w=350&sz=28&tbnid=wsxRFqjn9DcJ:&tbnh=128&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3DWestern%2BKingbird&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=3
 
Probably not as rare as the Yellow Bellied Flycatcher, but, I have a new life bird.
______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]