On February 7th while working on the bluffs, a lone cedar waxwing paid us a visit. Usually present in flocks, it was sitting alone in a bush, rather passive and undisturbed by our presence. In fact, it let me get within a few feet to take this photo with my phone before sluggishly flying off to another nearby bush. What a wonderful sight to see on a cold, windy day!
Although it is said that many cedar waxwings migrate south, some choose to stay in Wisconsin in the winter if there are enough berries present, which they feed on almost exclusively during these months. In fact, the name "cedar" comes from the fact that one of its favorite fruits in fall and winter are red cedar berries...which is not actually a cedar, but is really a juniper. So, maybe we should start calling it the "Juniper Waxwing"! And maybe that's why all of those red cedars keep popping up on the bluff prairies courtesy of this bird!
Here are some "Cool Facts" about this bird from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
The name "waxwing" comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may help attract mates.
Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats enough of the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange.
The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Brown-headed Cowbirds that are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests typically don’t survive, in part because the cowbird chicks can’t develop on such a high-fruit diet.
Many birds that eat a lot of fruit separate out the seeds and regurgitate them, but the Cedar Waxwing lets them pass right through. Scientists have used this trait to estimate how fast waxwings can digest fruits.
Because they eat so much fruit, Cedar Waxwings occasionally become intoxicated or even die when they run across overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol.
Building a nest takes a female Cedar Waxwing 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2,500 individual trips to the nest. They occasionally save time by taking nest materials from other birds’ nests, including nests of Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, orioles, robins, and Yellow Warblers.
The oldest recorded Cedar Waxwing was a male and at least 7 years, 1 month old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Maryland in 2014. He was originally banded in the same state in 2008.
As said, these birds are known to become intoxicated from eating fermented berries in the winter. Maybe our little fellow was off by itself and let us get so close because he was drunk! Unfortunately, these beautiful birds eat and spread a wide variety of berries, including the plants we battle on the prairie such as honeysuckle, Oriental bittersweet, barberry, and buckthorn. But what a joy to have this amazing bird out there making a living in the subzero temperatures of Wisconsin while adding color to the drab months of winter!
You should have added red cedar to the list of plants we battle that are spread by seeds. The dominance of red cedar as the invader of bluff prairies near the river is likely associated with the high number of migrants that stick tight to that corridor. I seldom have a red cedar show up at my place on the far east side of La Crosse County.