Early this morning as I was watching the various duck families sort themselves out on the lawn, I noticed a bird moving deep in the alder at the water's edge. The color of the bird, the little I could see, was different than the usual suspects: chickadees, blackbirds, goldfinches. This was a rich, soft, smooth brown fading to a warm, golden belly. His head suddenly popped out of the greenery and I was looking at my first cedar waxwing of the summer.
These little guys are beautiful. Their faces sport a black mask softly outlined in white, topped by cinnamon head feathers that are long and form a kind of duck tail hairdo in back. Their bodies are cinnamon, bellies golden, tails grey. Lots of color going on. And then, the best part. The reason they're called waxwings. Each wing is tipped with small scarlet spots - scarlet that looks like wax from a distance. And the end of their tails are tipped in brilliant yellow. Quite the flashy bird.
Waxwings love berries and that's where to find them. Any fruiting shrub or tree can be their host. They are social and move in flocks, talking as they go in a sweet, high-pitched whistle. Acrobats, they will hang upside down to get to the very best berries.
Waxwings live inland all year round and some move out to the coast in the summer. They used to be considered "very rare visitors" to the coast, according to my Birds of Oregon reference. I think that has changed and they're a bit more common here these days.
My favorite way to find these birds is on a clear winter day - hearing their singing trilling call, then seeing a busy flock moving through a bare tree, plucking and savoring the red berries in the cold winter sun.
