THE CEDAR WAXWING often you don’t see me, i am so common you miss my beauty
The art and beauty of dancing Cedar Waxwings.
Introduction
The Cedar Waxwing is a common bird found in the Midwest. Certainly common in Illinois. Sometimes things that are often around us are overlooked.
Our powers of observation are dulled. We should know they are there but because we see them often we don’t see their uniqueness. We miss their beauty. They become part of the environmental background- noise. Like elevator music. Like the humdrum of conversation at a busy restaurant. The Cedar Waxwing can be that victim. Clouded in commonest.
So for the moments you may spend reading my humble post -I hope the collection of photos presented here, convince you of the beauty of what I like to call the “dancing waxwing“. Please enjoy.
But first a little about the Cedar Waxwing.
The Cedar Waxwing is a social bird that is commonly found hanging in groups. The Waxwings stay in Illinois year-round. For those of you who are “backyard feeders” than you should know that Waxwings are fruit lovers. It is suggested you should try to plant trees and shrubs that bear small fruits, such as dogwood, serviceberry, cedar, juniper, hawthorn, and winterberry.
During their breeding season, the Waxwing prefers insects.
Sources:
Cedar Waxwing. All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/id
Wikipedia contributors. (2019, December 26). Cedar waxwing. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:32, January 1, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cedar_waxwing&oldid=932544915
More Information:
Witmer, M. C., et al. (1997). Cedar waxwing : Bombycilla cedrorum. Washington, D.C. Philadelphia, PA, American Ornithologists’ Union ; The Academy of Natural Sciences.
Crouch, J. E. (1931). A study of the cedar waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum Vieillot. Ithaca, N. Y.
Avery, M. L., et al. Cedar waxwings.
Yow, J. (2009). The armchair birder : discovering the secret lives of familiar birds. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press.
Rosen, M. J. and S. Fellows (2009). The cuckoo’s haiku and other birding poems. Somerville, Mass., Candlewick Press.
Lemmon, R. S. (1952). Our amazing birds; the little-known facts about their private lives. Garden City, N.Y.,, American Garden Guild and Doubleday.
Mahnken, J. (1996). The backyard bird-lover’s guide. Pownal, VT, Storey Communications.
Eastman, J. Birds nearby : getting to know 45 common species of Eastern North America.
Norden, R. L. (1966). The cedar waxwing in Maryland. College Park, MD, Natural Resources Institute.
Adams, J. L. (2014). Ten thousand birds. folio one : from the forest to the plains. [Fairbanks, Alaska], Taiga Press.
Gardner, D. and N. Overcott (2006). Fifty common birds of the upper Midwest. A Bur oak book. Iowa City, University of Iowa Press,: 1 online resource (125 p.).
Erickson, L. and M. Read (2015). Into the nest : intimate views of the courting, parenting, and family lives of familiar birds. North Adams, MA, Storey Publishing.
Sorenson, S. (2013). Birds in the yard month by month. Mechanicsburg, PA, Stackpole Books.
Walter Foster Jr. (Firm) (2019). Forest birds : field guide & drawing book : learn how to identify and draw birds from the great outdoors! Mission Viejo, CA, Walter Foster Jr., an imprint of The Quarto Group.
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