It was a fine morning. The sunny kind of morning where you can feel the warmth of spring on your cheeks while the chill of winter still nips at the tips of your nose and ears, and where the birds serenade the world from bare branches overhead.
Just a few minutes after setting off along the trail, scanning for movement overhead, a collection of smooth tan bellies in a tree caught my eye. Mourning Doves? But too small: not enough chunk under those feathers. Then I heard the high-pitched, wheezy whistles. Cedar Waxwings!
Gorgeous yet unobtrusive birds, Cedar Waxwings are migratory but can be spotted in Iowa year-round. They adore eating fruits and berries, including cedar as well as crabapples, serviceberry, mulberry, and even some non-natives like honeysuckle and Russian olive. They have an unfortunate reputation for drunkenness, partaking of fermented berries that intoxicate the hapless birds--occasionally to the point of death.
From a distance, they appear an unremarkable brown, but get the binoculars out and you'll be treated to the Cedar Waxwing in all its glory: the black mask accented with white, a fluffy-looking crest, the bright yellow-tipped tail, and the interesting waxy red tips on their wings that give them their common name.
The Waxwings themselves only know the function of those colorful waxy bits. The best we've surmised is that they are, like other ornamentation in other birds, signals of fitness and prowess to impress potential mates and others in their highly-social community.
They are gregarious and hang out in flocks throughout the year, with pairs even nesting near each other during the mid-summer breeding season. The birds' penchant for fruits and berries makes them a poor host for nest-parasitizing Brown-headed Cowbirds, whose young are better adapted to a less fruit-heavy diet.
Watch for Cedar Waxwings in neighborhoods with crabapples and other fruit-bearing trees. They're a treat!
- Birds of the World (Cornell Lab of Ornithology; subscription required)
- All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
