Cedar Waxwings and Spiked Berries

My granddaughter and I were out and about yesterday and we saw several cedar waxwings gleaning crabapple trees, junipers and holly bushes.  They were working like busy bees, as they cleared entire limbs of their berries.   My granddaughter is 3 and when she saw them she said they looked like pirates.  I didn't know what she meant, but when I asked, she said they had on masks.   Leave it to a three year old to put things into perspective.   We saw them first at Carnaby Square in downtown London, and then at the Somerset Community College Campus and in a yard near our home.   Several customers had called to say they'd spotted their first of the winter.   Abi and I were just having an easy evening and we spotted three different flocks in one evening. 

The name "waxwing" comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondary wings of some birds.  They exact function of this waxy substance isn't known, but thought to be used to help attract mates. 

Since the waxwing specializes in eating berries, occasionally they become intoxicated and even die when they run across overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol. 

When I first (identified) the cedar waxwing a couple of years ago, I was quite sure I'd seen them before and just misidentified them as a female cardinal.  Brown and gray in color and with the little tufts on their head, I'd never given second thought, but once I spotted the yellow tail bar and some red spots on their wings, I knew I was looking at a cedar waxwing.  They move from here, Kentucky, to Panama and Costa Rica for the winter, more and more are wintering in the southern most United States. 

The cedar waxwings eat the whole berries and let them pass thru, instead of spitting out the seed.