Sunday, July 5, 2015

Update on the Cedar Waxwing


The young cedar waxwing I saved from the jaws of death last week is doing fine in The Berry Barn. I took some strawberries out to it and it wasn't too long before those disappeared. I also put a little dish of water with the berries but I don't know if it's drinking much of that.



The other day, I noticed another cedar waxwing hanging around and I assumed it was a relative - mom or dad, perhaps?

 
A concerned mama?
Well, today, we got confirmation that it is - Romie found the nest.We have a huge old oak tree that overlooks The Berry Barn and high up in it sits the nest.


We observed several comings and goings of both the male and female, so we're assuming they're feeding some babies still in the nest, although it's too high up to see if there are any in it.

Note the yellow tips on the tail feathers.
Both the male and female look for a nesting site, but ultimately the female decides and she's the one who does the nest building. Sometimes there will be a second brood in a summer and a different nest will be built for it, with the males often helping with that one.

Eggs are pale blue or gray, often with dark brown spotting and a typical clutch consists of anywhere from two to six eggs.



As the day has gone on, we noticed that our baby is being fed through the chicken wire, but we also notice it's eating the blueberries and raspberries inside the Berry Barn. It seems to be quite a bit larger than when I first put it in there, so it's probably growing just fine.

As soon as we can see that it can fly okay, we'll let it out. Right now, it flies just enough to get itself up on a low branch of the blueberries or blackberries, but it's pretty clumsy about it.





5 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I am glad the M & F are still feeding the chick. He needs more than just berries. They will make sure he gets all that he needs. He will be a big boy/girl with all that extra care.

Terra said...

I hope the young bird thrives enough to be released; you are doing a good job.

Colleen said...

Good to hear the little guy is doing better.
Sounds like you're a pretty good Surrogate Mother

Barbara M. said...

Years ago I bought my Grandmother a male Waxwing statue. She had it sitting on her upright piano. I loved buying her bird statues for over 16 years. I thought the Waxwing was the prettiest.
Grandma was a very young widow with 6 children to raise and one of her greatest pleasures was to sit on her porch swing and watch the live birds in her feeders.
When she passed away my mother gave me back the Waxwing figure and after 33 years since her death I still have that bird in my collection.
I hope to pass it on to my daughter one day.

RobinL said...

Putting a cedar waxwing into a Berry Barn does seem quite ironic! Perhaps you could show a picture to a local vet, and see what he thinks about his possible healing? You can't have him eating up your berries!

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