[va-bird] Cedar Waxwings Maple Sugaring

Witnessed a new behavior for Cedar Waxwings today as I watched a flock of 
about 35 birds working in one of the neighborhood Maple trees. Some of them 
were 
nibbling on the buds, but then I noticed lots of action around some twigs and 
branches that had been broken or snapped, maybe during the recent storm. At 
first, I thought the birds might be picking bugs off of the sap that was 
running 
out of the tree, but the more I watched, the more it seemed like they were 
going after the sap itself. Some of the birds even seemed to "flycatch" beneath 
the limb to catch the sap as it was dripping off the tree. Very amusing - 
wondered if the birds were getting a "sugar high"...?

Rich Rieger

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