Bohemian Waxwings
February 21st, 2011
I've been chasing these guys all winter. They finally sat still for me!
1680x1050 wallpaper
Waxwings are sociable and gentle birds, and sharing berries (one will pluck it, then feed it to another) is one way they show friendliness to their flockmates. This behavior is especially common among mated pairs.
Many of them were feeding on the ground--presumably on fallen berries. I managed one quick shot of this cluster before they scattered.
A rear view showing this bird's strikingly colored wings:
February 21st, 2011
I've been chasing these guys all winter. They finally sat still for me!
1680x1050 wallpaper
Waxwings are sociable and gentle birds, and sharing berries (one will pluck it, then feed it to another) is one way they show friendliness to their flockmates. This behavior is especially common among mated pairs.
Many of them were feeding on the ground--presumably on fallen berries. I managed one quick shot of this cluster before they scattered.
A rear view showing this bird's strikingly colored wings:
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queenie_writes
February 21st, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Aww, I love the one with the berry. :)
gabriel_le
February 22nd, 2011 at 7:44 am
is it common for birds to be this sociable to their flockmates?
Suzanne
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:28 am
There are various species who habitually gather in feeding flocks and to some extent cooperate, but few that are so kind to each other as waxwings. They don't even squabble over food--a behavior one sees regularly with goldfinches, chickadees, etc. If they're all eating at one berry tree, instead of going down all at once and fighting over what's there, they'll perch in some other, big tree, and go down two or three at a time. Remarkably civilized :-)
And there's absolutely no hierarchical ranking, which one sees with a lot of flocking birds. (Chickadees have a strict pecking order: old over young, male over female, established flock members over new flock members. If you're at the bottom of the pecking order, you eat last.) All waxwings are equal.
And of course there's the berry-feeding behavior. I don't know of any other species offhand who do that, except when feeding their young, or feeding ones mate when she's sitting on the nest. Waxwings just do it as if to say, "hi, I like you." Sometimes they'll even pass the berry back and forth multiple times before someone finally eats it. "No, I insist." "No no, I insist!"
I like waxwings, as you can tell :-)
gabriel_le
February 22nd, 2011 at 11:44 am
they are quite intriguing and inspiring. =)
I like learning from my birding course (your blog, =)...).
Mike
February 22nd, 2011 at 9:09 am
Good round-up of shots you got there... these guys are very photogenic!