Thursday, February 9, 2012

Feasting Robins and Cedar Waxwings

A couple of weeks ago, our Green Hawthorne was overflowing with red berries. Not for long! A flock of robins flew in, flying back and forth between a maple and seemingly taking turns in feasting.


Within an hour, a tightly oval shaped flock of Cedar Waxwings joined them. These medium sized birds have a silky appearance,  have yellow-tipped tails and striking black markings on their faces. They eat insects during breeding season and berries especially from Junipers year round. They are know to pass berries from bird to bird which is believed to help in the digestion of the berry. Find more info at this Cornell Birding site : http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_waxwing/id/ac






Robins and Cedar Waxwings are both very social birds and eat the berries whole and seem to get along quite well, contrary to the report I found online. (http://www.jstor.org/pss/4513265).

Here is an excellent video of these beautiful birds on Youtube:

1 comment:

  1. What a gorgeous bird. You're lucky to have them.

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