Cedar Waxwings

April 20th, 2009

There was a tremendous flock of cedar waxwings in my garden today. They were eating the berries, shrivelled and dried, from last fall, and flying in their sudden squadrons. There were more of them than I could reasonably count, perhaps eighty or a hundred altogether, perching mostly in the newly budding maple tree that sits beside my driveway, but diving occasionally, a dozen or so at a time, to the berry bushes beneath my window: splendid.

Posted in Nature | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Cedar Waxwings”

  1. David Humphrey Says:
    April 20th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    This is what I love most about them–their social nature. Did you notice any of them passing berries to each other? What a gift.

  2. jeremylukehill Says:
    April 20th, 2009 at 6:03 pm

    Dave,

    I did not actually see any food sharing, but I understand that this is part of their mating ritual, where the male offers food to the female until she accepts something from him as a sign of her consent to be his mate. I will watch more carefully for this tomorrow.

  3. Curtis Says:
    April 20th, 2009 at 10:21 pm

    For anyone like I was previous, this is a Cedar Waxwing:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Waxwing

  4. Katerina Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 10:36 am

    Thanks Curtis, lol

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