FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Cedar Waxwings and Urban Hollys -Then and Now

[OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx]

March 7, 2008 
I saw flocks of Cedar Waxwings today, searching through the snow  flurries 
for red berries near downtown buildings, just as I had in this posting  almost 
10 years ago to the day...................
Flurries-- Snow and Waxwings
March 10, 1998
Memphis,  Tennessee
I was greeted today, as I left the house, by beautiful  flurries of snow.
The large, light flakes danced and whirled like joyous  children tumbling down
a hillside. Nothing ominous in this snow, the clouds  were evenly spaced by
great expanses of bright blue sky, and shafts of  morning sunlight. We have a
right in Memphis to be wary of March snows for  the two most gripping storms 
to
hit us were spawned in this iffy  month.

Upon reaching midtown, I found mixed in with the snow  flurries,
flurries of Cedar Waxwings. They appear at this time of the year,  in late 
winter, in numerous
groups and large flocks touring the urban  and municipal scene in search of 
the
red berry. They dash headlong between  the buildings and skim along at tree 
top
height in their search. They make  the quick U turns they are noted for and
settle into the tops of trees and  bushes. When you see this, all you have to 
do
is look around and there will  be a Holly Tree, a splayed Pyracantha or other 
berry bearing bush
that  some bird in this flock had spied during their pell-mell flight. 
 
They then trade to and fro from their remote perch; some birds feeding while  
the others  relax.                    They soon make short work of the 
fruiting bodies and usually leave two things, a  berryless
bush and usually a frustrated Mockingbird, that had guarded that  bush with 
fervor
through the winter. The poor Mockingbird is no match for  their persistence 
and
numbers, no sooner than he chases them from the top of  his larder, than they 
are in
the bottom, around and around he goes until  exhausted.

What a great treat to watch the strength of a spring  season grow in
the numbers of Cedar Waxwings and to feel the cold grip of  winter's last  
fling,                                        slipping away as snow flakes 
dance 
through the streets, chased by colorful  Cedar  Waxwings                      
  that swirl around the buildings under a bright and promising blue sky.  
Even driving to work has its rewards!

Good Birding!!!

Jeff R.  Wilson
OLCOOT1@ aol.com
Bartlett, Tenn.




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