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helenh_gw

cedar waxwing

helenh
13 years ago

I have a flock of them eating shriveled crab apples in my little tree. Also I have the cutest, pushy little wren eating dog food at the edge of my porch. A cat is going to get it if it isn't careful. When all the other birds fly away with an approaching dog or person, this wren continues to hunt for food. I can get really close to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: cedar waxwing

Comments (12)

  • gldno1
    13 years ago

    Helen, lucky you. I have never seen one. I need to plant a crab apple tree; maybe that will draw some different species.

    Did your camera get well?

  • helenh
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    No I think it is a gonner. It is a $100 camera and it would probably be better to buy a new one than to try to have it fixed. I may just ask at a repair shop but don't even know where to take a broken camera. I rarely see the cedar wax wings. They come in a flock eat berries and move on. I do appreciate the hundreds of little crab apples in weather like this. I haven't been buying bird seed just suet for woodpeckers. I throw dog food on the snow and the furry pigs (dogs) have spent all their time trying to dig it out because layers of it was covered as the snow blew or more fell. They have food on the porch but the found dog food brings out the scavenger in them. My field needs to be brush hogged badly. I have lots of buck brush and I don't see anything eating those berries.

  • gldno1
    13 years ago

    Helen, I read somewhere that the birds eat it only as a last resort.

    Do you know what crab apple variety you have. I know some has a disease problem just like regular apples.

    I see them around in various yards and I love how the tiny little apples look in the winter.

  • christie_sw_mo
    13 years ago

    I've only seen a Cedar Waxwing once and it was dead. : ( My mother found it near the front of her house and we suspected that it had hit a window. They're very pretty up close. It's feathers were sort of soft and silky looking.
    I'd love to see a whole flock of them like you did Helen. I'm jealous. Sounds like they come and go in a hurry so I might have had some and just not known. I don't think I have any trees or shrubs that still have berries this late in the year. I should check next time I'm out.

    The Blue Jays here like to steal my dogs' food and it's surprising how much two or three of them can eat. I think they can eat as much as a dog. The starlings will eat it too but they're not as sneaky.

  • sunnyside1
    13 years ago

    Every year, a Cedar Waxwing flock strips the berries off my very large American holly tree. One night the berries are there, when I go out for the paper in the morning there are none. So far, they haven't come. The year we had the bad ice storm they didn't come.

    I didn't know wrens were here for winter -- I hope to attract several families again this year. One box is right off the screened porch and they aren't at all afraid of us. I love to hear their happy songs --
    Sunny

  • helenh
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I have another wren in the barn and I will be sad if I see a pile of russet feathers. They forage around too low and aren't afraid. My cats live in the barn. My two crab apples have very small fruit like a berry. They have no disease problems and bloom reliably but briefly in spring. The apples are not the colorful attractive ones that are bigger, but they are a good size for birds. I saw two bluebirds in one of them yesterday also. These trees were planted years ago. They are white with pink buds, very small fruit and were sold as disease resistant. If you are getting one for birds, check that it has fruit that persists into winter and small fruit. I will look in my file and see if I can find the name because my trees have been trouble free for thirty years.

  • mosswitch
    13 years ago

    I have a Carolina wren that comes to my feeders. Scrappy little thing, it fends off the other birds with that long sharp beak and eats its fill before it lets the others come back.

  • helenh
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    That is what is so cute and the little tail sticking up. I couldn't find the name of my crab apple. It could be zumi calocarpa. I remeber a C in the name, but all records of way back when I planted it are gone. we had some melting but now it is cloudy again.

  • gldno1
    13 years ago

    Helen, I saw the crab apple on your photobucket album. It is a pretty tree.

  • helenh
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Glenda I looked for a good picture of it. I think there is usually too much junk around the barn and I don't save the pictures. I can't imagine not having pictures of it. The picture you see is when it is losing petals. It blooms very briefly then snows petals which are kind of pretty as they fall. It is fragrant and the whole tree hums with bees. I have two. When it was small, one tree was at my mother's house. I dug it up and planted it here. She planted hers by the door and thought the bees were a problem. It blooms for such a short time that it would be easy to be cautious. Once it gets big you can prune the lower branches to above your head. The bees stay up in the tree and I have never been stung. Don't plant it by your door though.

  • christie_sw_mo
    13 years ago

    That's a beautiful photo Helen. Try to remember to take one this spring when it's in full bloom to show us. I have an American Holly that I grew from seed several years ago. It has finally gotten big enough to start making berries. I wasn't sure it would at all since I thought they needed a pollinator. Maybe it will attract Cedar Waxwings someday.

    I had wrens everywhere this summer. I wonder where they've all gone. I must not have the right stuff in my feeders for them. What does yours eat Mosswitch?

  • helenh
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Mine is eating dog food crumbs and the one in the open shed part of the barn was eating cat food.