Thursday, October 4, 2012

Cedar Waxwings Galore

The Red Cedar tree in our yard is now officially open for business, so say the Cedar Waxwings who were busy feasting on its berry-like cones all day today:
 
A waxwing in a sea of food.
I counted about 20 or so Cedar Waxwings in this flock, but there could've easily been more -- they were moving around so much, it was hard to get an idea of how many were actually out there. Most of the birds were juveniles, with streaky breasts and a generally scruffy appearance:
 

Hello scruffy bird, see anything you like?
 

In fact, I only saw one individual with the sleeker feathers and those funky red waxy deposits on its wing tips that mark older birds:
 

So this may not have been the fanciest group of waxwings ever, but these birds were a ton of fun to watch as they scarfed down as many cones as they could, as quickly as possible. And yeah, the juveniles could actually be pretty sleek, too:
 

Look, a waxwing tongue!
 

Speaking of tongues, there were a few other birds sampling Red Cedar cones today as well, including, to my surprise, a Northern Flicker -- I didn't think these birds ate fruit, but I guess they do! A few cones down, and then it licked its lips....
 

Now that's a tongue!!

I'll keep an eye on this tree to see what other creatures stop by for a snack. Hopefully there will be enough food to go around for a while yet!

1 comment:

  1. I actually saw a flicker munching on serviceberries recently - I was surprised, too.

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