Cedar Waxwings

The former owner of the land upon which the Aerie sits had two spare telephone poles put in. One carried the power line from the main line to the trailer that was used as the domicile and the other…well, it just is. Maybe it had something to do with the windmill he had on the property but I doubt it. I believe the windmill was in the open field on the other side of the woods about 100 yards away. (He also strung all kinds of wire and wire fencing through the woods for some reason and it’s been a b*tch but I’ve gotten some of it out. Lots more to go though.)

Up on top of one of the spare telephone poles (the one that seems to have had no use but which has the metal climbers on the sides) there is a piece of nylon twine that has been buffeted about by the wind until there are several nicely frayed ends.

A pair of Cedar Waxwings has decided sometime during the last two days to use this twine to—I can only assume—build a nest. They will grab one of the frayed ends and tug and tug until a small piece breaks free. Because the twine is too long for them to get a good tug on it while they sit on the metal step, they will often grab it and flutter out from the pole while putting all their weight and might behind the effort of gathering nest material. Sometimes their antics can get quite comical. The funniest was when each bird grabbed the twine from opposite sides of the pole and fluttered out at the same time trying to pull the soft stuff off. It was a regular tug of war.

I finally decided to set up the digiscope and take some pictures. Of course after I managed to shot eight or so pictures, they quit collecting for the day and went in search of some food. (Many wild strawberries and service berries about.)










These are really beautiful birds with their crisp black mask, a little crest like a Cardinal, and the bright red wing tips and yellow tail tips that look like they’ve been playing with acrylic paints. The buff brown is such a subtle shade of color and sets off the little bright highlights.

UPDATE: They came back for more string sometime before 8:30 PM and succeeded in taking nearly the entire supply off the pole. Whether they were able to carry it all away or merely dropped it into the weeds below, I've not been able to determine. Just a single strand remains fluttering in the light breeze. That should be easy for them to haul away since it's not wrapped around the pole as far as I can tell.