I almost always first notice waxwings by their call. It's a high-pitched nasal sort of whistle. And I heard one this afternoon while sitting on the deck.

Having finally given in to birding technology, I had the ipad open with a call-recognition app. It said to me, "Yes, b'y. That's a cedar waxwing." (Okay. it doesn't speak like that. . . )

But the waxwings visually blend in. My wife saw it before I did. There were actually two hanging around for a couple of minutes and then hitting the road again.