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cedar waxwing migration

10 years ago

I'm just out of st Louis & cedar waxwing sightings have been few & far between. looked out the window this morning & I could tell by it's sihlouette that this was not one of my regular birds. put the binoculars on it & it was a cedar waxwing. within 5 minutes there were at least a dozen. they've hung around all morning. I hope a pair moves into one our birdhouses

Comments (12)

shillanorth Z4 AB
10 years ago
Such lovely birds.....lucky you!!!!
rober49
Original Author
10 years ago
went out in the afternoon & I counted 27 of them in a hackberry at the back of my lot & a few more drifting from tree to tree. heard a hawk call so I looked straight up & spotted a flock of pelicans riding the thermals. an hour later spotted a kestrel on a power line. twas a good day to look up!
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Hey Marcia,.... cedar waxwings!
Q
Comments (2)
Thanks for the heads up, Kristi! Yes, I know what you mean about hearing them. That's how I usually find them, too, as they have a very distinctive chittering sort of sound they make. (I hope I can still hear them this year, but I've lost a lot of high-frequency sounds. Everyone was enjoying listening to a catbird yesterday at Emeralda Marsh, and I couldn't hear a thing!) Waxwings are so beautiful! They look like satin, they are so smooth. Beautiful markings on their faces, and that little dot of red is cool, isn't it? They have an endearing habit of sitting on a line or branch and taking a berry and passing it down the line, one bird to the other, with the last one getting to eat it. Hope I see some soon. Pictures for those of you who have never seen one or don't know what they look like: You can see in this picture that what looks like a small red spot on the feathers (in the photo above) is actually a tipping of a heavier type on the ends of certain feathers. That's the "wax" of "waxwing." It reminded early settlers of the sealing wax that was used on envelopes. For more info, including songs, check out the link below. These are lovely birds and watching flocks of them come through on migration is a lot of fun. Marcia Here is a link that might be useful: Cedar Waxwing Info & Song
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Cedar Waxwings
Q
Comments (2)
I had them eating apple blossoms, they also took berries still green, like honey berries and sour cherries. They could stay for a while as long they have a steady food source. I had them nest in evergreens, usually they time it when the berries are ready. Konrad
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Cedar Waxwings sure have strange nesting habits
Q
Comments (6)
Finally saw our first waxwings this week in our blueberries. To me, the arrival of waxwings in southern Il seems strange. I associate the waxwing as a northern bird. However, they don't arrive here till mid June and stay sometimes two or three months before disappearing. Most birds migrate through here much earlier and stay a month at the most. We also are enjoying our towhee every single day as he visits the ground surrounding our feeders. I only see one though. We are fortunate to have loads of cardinals; and, yesterday, he spent a good half hour chasing one particular female around. I think the poor lovelorn thing must be getting desperate. Finally, our summer tanagers are back, and I have been blessed with some real close encounters with them. They like to hang out at our red raspberries and blackberries and have a very unique vocalization.
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Cedar Waxwings
Q
Comments (3)
A couple of years ago, I had a pair of waxwings nesting in a tree in my yard. A robin kept approaching the nest. Even though the robin didn't do anything to the eggs, the waxwings ended up abandoning the nest with the eggs in it because, I guess, of the robin coming too close to the nest and disturbing them. Even though robins don't pose a threat, I guess they felt the nest wasn't safe. I think the robin liked the location of the nest. Anyway, they stayed away for quite some time. They eventually returned and dismantled the nest and moved it to another yard. I had provided wool for them to build the nest so they didn't want to leave the wool behind so they relocated. I was sad to see them leave, but the next year they successfully nested and had 5 fledglings that all successfully left the nest.
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Konrad___far_north
10 years ago
Good for you!
It's the time of the year again and the cycle of live starts all over,..flocks will break apart when breeding and nesting, they don't nest in a bird house,...in trees.

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rober49
Original Author
10 years ago
great photos. I figured out the bird house thing when I drew a blank searching for cedar wax wing houses. I do have plenty of trees though......
myfrozenlittlepond
10 years ago
Those are beautiful photos, konrad. We see waxwings here in northern wisconsin but I have never seen a nest. Thank you for sharing.
Konrad___far_north
10 years ago
Thank you all!
Yesterday, a flock of similar species, Bohemian Waxwing in our neighborhood.
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
10 years ago
Great pics of the waxwings, as usual, Konrad. Did your wife get her annual wonderful pictures of the Bohemian Waxwing invasion?

Claire
Konrad___far_north
10 years ago
Yes she did! It seems they stick around for several weeks/month until flock disperses for breeding,.. still lots of Crab Apples, Mountain Ash, High bush Cranberry, Chokecherries, Russian Olive etc. around, they might even pick off new buds on trees. Only had ones a nest in the backyard around 25 years ago in a little spruce trees about 4 foot up, now that tree is HUGE.
Have never seen the Cedars here in winter, they soon will be returning and I will see usually several nest out on the hobby farm, [above pictures] planted several hundred spruce trees from seeds. Hardly ever see Bohemian nest,..I'll have to ask them where they go.
surya55_gw
10 years ago
Konrad, as always, your pics are stunning! Thx for bringing the beauty of nature so close to us.
rebeccah_2009
10 years ago
I have never got to see one of these birds. Do they come to my area? I live in Middle TN.
mnshutterbug
10 years ago
For the first time I had a couple in my crabapple tree the other day. Those are cool nest shots and the photo of the Bohemians is awesome.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIi3DdVFICI&list=UUgWUFVeHbOLgjpcVfjk1jAA&feature=share&index=1
rober49
Original Author
10 years ago
there's 1/2 dozen that seem to be staying. I've been seeing some almost every day

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