I rarely see them. Last year, among the hundreds of robins, that rove in winter bands, some cedar waxwings could be seen. One pair nested above the drive, out of sight, but their extremely high, lisping notes are a giveaway, whenever any are around. Unique and beautiful birds and it is nice to know other people appreciate them.

That's really exciting! They are such beautiful birds.

How nice that all the planting you've done for wildlife is paying off! I enjoyed reading the older posts about the process you went through, it helped inspire me to want to do the same.

It may be a couple years before my native berry shrubs get going. In the meantime, I occasionally see the Cedar Waxwings on some of the berry trees out back - namely the Choke cherries and the Crabapples.

AND on one incredible day last month, I actually had some Waxwings come up to my Suet Log! I think they followed the Bluebirds here, which come to the Suet Log pretty much everyday. But the Cedar Waxwings weren't really sure what this weird food source was.

Got some nice pictures -

{{gwi:1059511}}

Oh what a stunning stunning picture. Just love the Bluebirds and the Waxwings together.

Yes, I have done lots and lots of work here and each year I just keep going. I am so happy with the amount of bird life I get here and then there are the usual mamals such as squirrells, possums and racoons.

Fantastic photos of the bluebirds and waxwings together. That is luck to see them together, let alone get a good photo. We have waxwings here all summer, but so often they are high up in trees, most people don't notice them. They like black cherries, and when i canoe the river i see them flycatching alot.

And congrats newyorkrita on your bird garden paying off. Glad the Wentworths were well used, so many people report birds not touching the highbush cranberries. I saw cardinals picking at them once, but i think they were only after the pits inside.

I may have to think about planting a Cardinal Candy viburnum. Winterberries - ive never had those last late in the year. I had a robin that would camp out until they were all gone, in December.

The Cardinal Candy is really such a lovely viburnum. Plus it fruits so heavily. I planted lots of berry shrubs for the birds, some for summer and some for winter. I don't mind having something fruit thats not their very favorite. This way the berries stay and something in the spring eats them up like robins, catbirds or this flock of Cedar Waxwings.

As to the winterberries, the first year I planted one male and four females. Those berries did not last long. The following year I planted more females and some the year after so that I have ten females now. Not all fruited much the first few years but now they all fruit very heavily so there are finially enough for the whole winter.

Holy cow Terrene, those pictures are great!

I thought the birds had lost interest on the shriveled berries remaining on my poison sumac, but I looked out this morning, and right where the sunlight was warming the branches, the tree was mobbed with robins, cedar waxwings, and even a blue jay, all at once! They were doing acrobatics to get at the hanging berry clumps. I wish I could have stuck around longer to watch them.

Ironically I had never even seen a cedar waxwing until just this last week, when in the middle of town, my husband and I were stopped in our tracks by a mob of them stripping shriveled cherries off of an ornamental tree in front of the bank  just feet away from us!

Oh Oh Oh

Growing up, flocks of these passing thru seemed normal.

Then for many years, not so much.

So a couple of years ago, I was sleeping in on a Saturday when a loud noise woke me. What in the world is that cacophony so early???

A mass of cedar waxwings feasting on the overgrown holly out back. Too bad they only stayed for two days.

We were lucky to see the waxwings cleaning the seeds off a palm tree.
Betty