SCOTT SHALAWAY Season lacking without a cedar waxwing

Though cedar waxwings seldom stay more than a day or two each fall, I look forward to their visits. If I miss their brief stop over, the season seems incomplete. A crisp October day a few weeks ago was typical. One minute the yard was quiet; the next, it was alive with 20 waxwings high in a maple tree talking among themselves in their distinctive high-pitched voice. For an hour they attacked the fruits that hung heavily from the grapevines and sumacs.
Then the waxwings discovered a shallow container I keep beneath a downspout to catch rain water. At times more than a dozen stood shoulder to shoulder for a communal bath. Then they flew to nearby perches where they fluffed and preened their feathers.
More handsome than beautiful, waxwings keep themselves immaculately groomed. Their silky brown feathers seem never out of place. Only a distinctive crest disrupts the body's streamlined, aerodynamic form.
Named for spots: Waxwings are named for the waxy red spots that decorate the tips of their wings' secondary feathers. The function of these curious structures is unclear, but a reasonable guess is that the colorful waxy markings are social or sexual cues needed for breeding.
In silhouette, waxwings are easily confused with tufted titmice. Both are heavy bodied and crested. In good light, however, the waxwing's brown body stands out. The bold black mask and a bright yellow band across the tip of the tail confirm a waxwing's identity.
After gorging themselves, waxwings move on -- gone as suddenly as they appeared. But that's how waxwings are -- here one minute, gone the next. Ornithologists call this irruptive behavior. Certain birds wander nomadically in search of an ever-changing food supply. (Evening grosbeaks and pine siskins are two irruptive northern species that sometimes descend on bird feeders.) Moving about in fall and winter flocks, waxwings search for almost any berry-bearing tree or shrub -- cherries, hollies, pyracantha, privet , and, of course, cedars.
Though waxwings move in a generally southerly direction at this time of year, they may spend the winter just about anywhere food is available. Almost seeming to drive this point home for me, another flock showed up last week and stripped an autumn olive hedge of its berries. But their stay, too, was brief.
They get drunk: Sometimes waxwings (and other fruit-eating birds, too) forage in a patch of berries that has begun to ferment. The alcohol in fermenting fruits intoxicates the birds. Scores of waxwings may stagger or pass out on the ground beneath the trees bearing the forbidden fruit. Some may die or fall prey to cats.
I observed a flock of inebriated waxwings when I was a college student about 30 years ago. I left my dorm room one morning and discovered about 20 waxwings on the ground beneath some holly bushes. Thinking they were dead, I gathered them up and took them to my ornithology professor. I thought he'd appreciate the skins for the department's collection. But by the time I got to his office, the birds had begun to revive. He then explained that under certain circumstances, birds can get falling-down drunk.
One reason waxwings & quot;get drunk & quot; is that they always seem to eat ravenously, even when food is abundant. Perhaps because they depend on scattered and unpredictable supplies of fruit, it's to their advantage to gorge whenever the chance arises.
Waxwings do whatever it takes to sustain themselves through the winter. Then in June they nest, often in fence rows and thickets along the edge of woodlots. Unlike most birds, waxwings show little territorial behavior. Each pair defends only a small area immediately around its nest. Because of this behavioral peculiarity, waxwings are sometimes loosely colonial. Several pairs may nest in a single tree.
If you've never seen a waxwing, keep your eye on fruit-bearing trees and shrubs. And listen for their high-pitched calls. Until winter really takes hold and they move farther south, waxwings could show up anytime. But their stay will be brief, and their departure sudden.
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