Jim Kroll emailed me awhile back to share an observation he made when he and his wife visited Garden City, South Carolina. According to Jim, while riding their bicycles they had the good luck to see a flock of cedar waxwing feasting on berries in a large tree.

“This tree was probably 20 feet tall, and loaded with blue berries,” he wrote.

He also shared a photo of the flock. “There are around 30 waxwings plucking berries,” he said in describing the photo.

He estimated that the flock numbered well over 100 waxwings.

“They left the tree top several times, as if startled, but they would return within a minute and continue their feast,” Jim wrote. “The thing that first caught our attention as we rode under the tree, is that my wife noticed a lot of small pieces of green limbs laying in the road directly under the tree. We turned around to see why the road had so many green limbs and noticed the waxwing flock feasting.”

They made it a point to ride by the tree again on the following two days, hoping to see the waxwing flock again, but did not see them again.

They also discovered that no berries remained on the tree’s branches. The waxwings had consumed all of the berries.

“I looked at an article on the South Carolina Public Radio website that said this is the time of the year that waxwings were migrating south through South Carolina,” Jim wrote.

I replied to Jim’s email and shared an account of an observation I made several years ago at Erwin Fishery Park.

On that occasion, my mom and I watched a couple of mockingbirds wage a losing battle to keep a flock of at least 100 waxwings out of a holly tree laden with berries. The mockingbirds might chase off a dozen waxwings, but there were always a few dozen ready to swoop in and take their place. That tree, too, was stripped of berries. The next time I stopped by I could not detect a single berry still on the tree.

After I shared my waxwing story, Jim replied with some more observations.

“I can see the mockingbirds that you mentioned trying to protect their berry stash,” he wrote. “We regularly see mockingbirds, seemingly being aggressive.”

Jim said that he has also re-named blue jays that visit his bird feeders.

“I call them ‘bully birds’ because they swoop in intentionally trying to scare off the other birds at the feeder,” he wrote.

I thought it interesting that my brother, Mark, told me about a flock of waxwings that he and his wife, Amy, saw at their home in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. His story was similar to the one Jim shared.

Mark said a flock of waxwings arrived in his yard and swiftly stripped a berry-producing tree of its berries.

Waxwings have a brown and gray silky plumage, a black mask and a perky crest. Some of the wing feathers show red tips. The similarity of these wing tips to melted drops of wax gives these birds the common name of waxwing.

The cedar waxwing has few relatives. Worldwide, there are only two other species: the Bohemian waxwing, of the northern forests of Eurasia and North America; and the Japanese waxwing, found in such northeast Asian countries as Japan, Korea and China.

Although it’s classified as a songbird, the cedar waxwing doesn’t truly produce a vocalization that anyone would contend qualifies as a song. They are, however, very vocal birds, producing shrill, high-pitched notes as they pass through the upper branches of tall trees.

As much as the waxwing has a fondness for fruit, it’s also a bird that would have made an excellent flycatcher. Flocks of these birds will often congregate in trees near the edge of a pond, garden or yard — anywhere winged insects might be found in good numbers — in order to hawk insects on the wing. A waxwing will sally forth from a branch, snatch its prey in mid-air, and return to its perch for a quick snack.

Waxwings are rather nomadic, coming and going with a maddening unpredictability.

Other birds are more dependable, arriving and departing at roughly the same time year after year.

Over the next few weeks, we can expect the spring arrivals of a vast variety of birds. To share a sighting, make a comment or ask a question, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

 

If it is March or April in Northeast Tennessee or Southwest Virginia or Western North Carolina, for that matter, some birds are making their return after a season-long absence.

On one recent morning, a loud, familiar “kon-ke-ree” sounded from the tops of the cypress trees at the fish pond. In an instant, I realized that the resident male red-winged blackbird was back for another nesting season.

Red-winged blackbirds return yearly every March and begin to seek out nesting habitat in local wetland areas, such as the cattail marshes near my fish pond.

Last year, my first returning male red-winged blackbird arrived on the evening of March 3. This year, the first red-winged blackbird arrived on the morning of March 6. I heard his unmistakable song from inside my house.

The showy and loud red-winged blackbird male that’s once again taken up residence at my fish pond and adjacent stands of cattails has made himself right at home.

Male blackbirds arrive ahead of the females. My recent spring arrival perches daily in the willows and cypresses by the pond and has been singing every day since his return, but he’s still waiting for his intended audience to arrive. Female blackbirds lag a week or so behind the males in returning to their familiar territory.

Any wet field or marsh, especially those offering a stand of cattails, is almost certain to attract red-winged blackbirds at this time of year. I’d almost wager on that certainty.

The blackbirds arriving in spring behave much differently than the quiet, furtive flocks that often make brief visits to feeders during late winter snowstorms.

“The kon-ke-ree song of the male red-winged blackbird is a sure indication that spring is on the way,” according to a profile located at the Tennessee Watchable Wildlife website.

At this time of year, the male red-winged blackbirds seek elevated perches to display and vocalize. Their loud antics are not designed solely to attract mates. Male red-winged blackbirds also sing to warn rival males from intruding into their territories.

The male red-winged blackbird is a very aptly named bird. Glossy black males sport red wing patches that are often trimmed with a narrow band of yellow feathers. By contrast, female red-winged blackbirds are mostly brown birds that could easily be mistaken for large sparrows. Both sexes have sharply pointed bills.

Red-winged blackbirds are fond of wetlands. Any marsh or even a damp field or flooded pasture is likely to attract a few resident red-winged blackbirds. Females choose nesting locations in cattails or other marsh vegetation. She usually lays three or four eggs. Although she does receive some help from the male, most of the responsibility for raising the young is left to her.

There is a reason that male red-winged blackbirds are not always quite as engaged as females in feeding and tending their young. Males are often polygynous, which means that males will often court multiple mates. His time is often occupied defending females and their respective nests from the advances of other male red-winged blackbirds.

According to the website All About Birds, male red-winged blackbirds spend much of the breeding season sitting on a high perch over their territories and singing almost without ceasing from dawn to dusk.

The website also notes that female blackbirds shirk the high profile of the males. They tend to skulk in wetland vegetation as they collect food or nest material.

Both males and females defend nests from intruders and predators. They take this duty quite seriously, as I know personally from being dive-bombed by parent blackbirds when I have gotten a little too close to their nests.

Other relatives of the red-winged blackbird in the United States include the tricolored blackbird found along the Pacific Coast and the yellow-headed blackbird resident in wetlands west of the Great Lakes. Rusty blackbird, common grackle and brown-headed cowbird are other species of blackbirds found in Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina.

Share a sighting, ask a question or make a comment by emailing me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.