Cedar waxwings at the water bowl
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ม.ค. 2021
- Cedar waxwings are beautiful and exotic-looking songbirds who occasionally pass through our backyard. They arrive in great flocks and strip the possumhaw holly trees of all their red berries before moving on to the next source of food. Juniper berries are another cedar waxwing favorite.
A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be able to watch them at one of the water bowls. While other birds that day had been bathing and splashing around, the cedar waxwings were intent on drinking - perhaps they knew they had a long flight ahead of them and wanted to get water while they had the opportunity?
They’re interesting birds, not only because of their bizarre Batman masks, yellow tail tips, and red waxy wing markings, but also because they are extremely social. We rarely see a lone cedar waxing (although it does happen: Take a look at texasbackyardwildlife.com/a-c....
For more information about these fascinating and beautiful birds, go to the Cornell Ornithology Lab site, All About Birds: www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/C....
For more great critter videos and photos please visit texasbackyardwildlife.com.
#cedar #backyardwildlife #texaswildlife
I live northwest of Santa Barbara, and every spring these migrating birds come to my house to harvest the cotoneaster berries that are abundant in my front yard. My 3 gigantic plants were originally volunteers from some other bird(!), and the flock stays until almost every berry is eaten (a lot longer this year, because they found additional branches to eat from!). Their droppings are brown, and messy. And after a rain, only the pit is left to sweep up. I have a water bowl in a sheltered part of my garden, but only the sparrows, finches and jays will drink/bathe from it. I'm guessing the doves and crows don't like the foliage, preferring the pooled water in gutters or sprinkler pools in open areas.
They do the same here with the possum haw holly berries. Unfortunately for us, the holly is close to the deck and the waxwing poo literally rains down on it. I'm sometimes alerted to the arrival of the waxwings by the pitter patter of poo hitting the wood. Messy, but they're such cool birds.
❤️ such striking plumage, thx for sharing!
Aren't they interesting? I love the little yellow tail-tips.
For the first time ever, I think I may have seen these birds two days in a row in two very different locations. What a treat that was. But the ones I seen seemed to be duller colors, so I am not 100% sure, but everything else looked like them, and they are a distinctive looking bird. I guess I better bring my high zoom camera next time to be certain. It was really cool watching them fly right above the pond. And between their group, there was always one coming or going around you. Glad you got to enjoy them as well.
They are very interesting little birds - their batman mask is quite unmistakable. They don't live here full time, but when they arrive they come in big flocks and strip the possum haw holly berries and anything else they can find. We are always quite excited to see them.
Very nice! How many cameras do you have set out around your yard?
We have about 40 cameras, but we usually only have 25 - 30 activated at any one time.
@@TexasBackyardWildlife woah!
Love your cameras!