The Gift of Waxwings

I recently celebrated my birthday, and yes I celebrate, no matter the age; it just seems a wonderful excuse to pamper yourself, even if in small ways.  I have found a number of places I enjoy volunteering at here in Texas, but, as it happened, on my birthday, due to a cancellation I ended up with a delightfully clean slate.  I could finally take down the Christmas decorations, which with a backdrop of 70 degrees seemed a bit incongruous. 

But the way I would “treat” myself on this day was to stop occasionally and head out to the deck to indulge in some bird watching.  I recently moved most of my feeders further from the house for a few reasons.  First, the seeds were making a messier-than-usual mess in this deck whose boards are separated just enough to catch the seeds and start them growing.  Secondly, on any given day, you could hear the disturbing sound of White-winged Doves whamming into the window.  I have decals on the windows but that doesn’t seem to solve the problem.  However, because these birds are as sturdy as little flying tanks, they often just bounced off and flew away, but still, they must exude considerable oil, for I have all these dove imprints on windows I can’t hope to reach to clean. 

And so, the feeders are now among the Ash Junipers. The birds have plenty of cover for recently, Sharp Shinned Hawks have been around dining on the stunned doves and titmice, and with them at a greater distance I could finally use my binoculars again.  On the Cape I loved my daily walk and my companions were always my dog and this great pair of binoculars my daughter gave me at Christmas.  They were as much a part of my wardrobe as gloves and scarf, but here, with the feeders so close, and the walk around the neighborhood involving a leashed dog, my binoculars were sitting idly by.  So, on this my birthday I would treat myself to taking “bird breaks” after completing each task.

First several viewings humbled me to the fact that I have yet to know who is who in the sparrow world of TX, at least in the winter sparrow world.  I am pleased to say that, that “Greek Austerity” plan I put into place (see past blog on the topic) has reduced the number of way-too-easy-to-identify House Sparrows.  Now, however, winter sparrows have arrived and, all I can say is, even if there are twenty on the ground, they still seem nearly invisible and when they fly up simultaneously into the Junipers, I lose them completely. 

But then, while I was straining to see maybe a white eye ring, or a tawny cap I suddenly became aware that right over my head was a flock of some high pitched calling birds.  I KNOW that sound, ah indeed, and on my birthday!  A flock of Cedar Waxwings had filled, literally filled, the top of the Live Oak I was under. At first, I only heard them but then scanning the branches with my binoculars, I saw they were everywhere!  Happy Birthday to me!!!

Now, not only are these gorgeous birds, but they come complete with so many cool facts.  Want to hear some?  These are gleaned from the Cornell Ornithology webpage that is always THE “go to” site for the best information on birds.  Here is some of what I read today…

-The “waxwing” part of the name comes from the fact that some of the birds have waxy red secretions on the secondary feathers, perhaps to attract a mate.

-In the 60’s, that wild time in our history, some Cedar Waxwings started sporting orange rather than yellow tips on their tail feathers.  They found that with the spread of an introduced honeysuckle that had red berries, birds that dined on these while growing their feathers had the orange feathers.  Darn, not much honeysuckle in TX so I can’t check this out, but all of you in the NE could.  Watch for it and let me know if you see any this year.

-They are one of the few NA birds that dine on so much fruit and hah! because of this, the cowbird that decides to lay its egg in a waxwing nest will come to naught for their young birds can’t survive on a fruit diet. So there.

-We clearly need more Public Service Announcements aimed at the Waxwings warning them of the danger of overindulging in fermented fruit for the alcohol in the fruit not only can leave them with a horrid “morning after” feeling but can outright kill them!

-File under the “ahhh…how sweet” category- male Waxwings will offer their mate small gifts when courting; a berry, an insect, or, and I love this, a flower petal.  She hops away with it, but then, hang on to your anthropomorphic hat, returns and says, “no you take it” and gives it back to the male, who in turns insists she has it.  They do this a few times until she finally accepts.  How can you NOT anthropomorphize when you read something like that! 

So, can you see how a tree full of Cedar Waxwings is a great birthday present?  And I really need to appreciate them when they ARE here, for whereas they were year round residents on the Cape, they wisely, like all rational folks, only spend the winter in Texas and then, head north.

Well, this was perhaps longer than it should have been, but you see, throughout my birthday month, I have leeway to get away with all kinds of things-  lengthy blogs being one of them.