June Blog- The Cedar Waxwing
Our book group met this month for the last time until autumn. We had great discussion about the final chapters before making some creative bird collages! Erika will try to keep posting a bird of the month for you. Please be in touch with any questions or insights, and feel free to continue your own discussions on the blog and in person.
We are so grateful to all of you who participated with us in reading When Women Were Birds. We hope you will keep birding, honoring your voice, and making a difference in the world. May you hold dear whatever and whomever you love.
~Ellen & Erika~
Bird of the Month: Cedar Waxwing
Image from Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) is a beautiful bird colored brown, gray, and lemon-yellow with a black mask and (oftentimes) brilliant red wax droplets on their wing feathers. In fact, their name comes from these red secretions, found on the tips of their secondary feathers. The exact function of these waxy tips is not known, but they may help attract mates. (Or, they are simply the result of their high-fruit diet!) In fall, Cedar Waxwings gather by the hundreds to eat berries, filling the air with their high, thin whistles. In summer, they can be found flitting over bodies of water in pursuit of flying insects, where they show off dazzling aeronautics for a forest bird. Beginning in the 1960s, some Cedar Waxwings began to appear with orange rather than yellow tail tips. It seems that individuals who eat enough of the berries from an introduced species of honeysuckle develop orange tips from the berry's pigment!
Cedar Waxwings love fruit— if you want to attract them to your yard, plant trees and shrubs that bear small fruits, such as dogwood, serviceberry, cedar, juniper, hawthorn, and winterberry. Indeed, the Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. They can survive on fruit alone for several months, although sometimes they become intoxicated or even die when they consume too many overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol.
Fun Fact: The female builds her next over 5 to 6 days, making more than 2,500 individual trips to and from the nest. Occasionally she will save time by taking materials from other birds’ nests, including those of Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, Orioles, Robins, and Yellow Warblers.
Cedar Waxwing without red wax secretions. Image from Cornell Lab of Ornithology