Cedar Waxwings are beautiful birds. For a while, I was on the hunt to see one because I knew that we lived within their year-round range. I first spotted them near Pictured Rocks Lakeshore in a little place called Au Train, Michigan. Au Train has a river flowing through it and a small inland lake. It’s there that I saw my first Cedar Waxwings. During the summer, it can be really “buggy” in the Upper Peninsula and the Cedar Waxwings were taking advantage of that! They were sitting high in the tree tops and then catching the bugs that were flying over the open water.
The next summer after observing this feeding behavior, I was able to identify them over the little pond in my own neighborhood! I was so excited to see that they were even closer than I could have imagined. Since they were so high in the trees, it wasn’t easy for me to spot their black masks at first, but once I saw the behavior and then checked closer I realized that they were indeed Cedar Waxwings. Besides eating this way over the summer, you’ll most likely find Cedar Waxwings eating fruit the rest of the year.
Bird Study Helped Me Identify the Cedar Waxwing
That’s part of the reason why bird study is such a helpful thing. Knowing a bird’s size and shape, color pattern, diet, behavior, and fun facts helps immensely when you are out in the field. You glean a little information, a little at a time and it increases your knowledge, helping you become more and more comfortable identifying birds around you.
You can understand why Thornton W. Burgess named this bird Dandy in his classic, The Burgess Bird Book for Children. He calls him “modestly dressed and yet distinguished looking” and don’t you agree?
Until next time, keep watching the skies <3 Kate
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