Some Waxwings Finally

There is a good crop of dogberries on the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland this winter. The expectation of large flocks of robins and waxwings never materialized this time. Bohemian Waxwings were being seen in numbers in central and western Newfoundland but on the Avalon just scattered reports of Bohemians and a few small flocks of Cedar Waxwings. On Friday Catherine Barrett found a little flock (75) of both waxwings mixed in the Goulds near the corner of Petty Harbour Road and Donavans Road. Over the follow 48 hours a number of birders found the birds here for their first waxwings of the year. I was there Saturday morning.

The Cedar Waxwings preferred to feed on old winter apples any way they could.  

There was only one with the red 'wax' wing'tips. Apparently this means it was the only adult.

All the others lacked the red tips meaning there were first winter birds.

There was a knack to getting into the apples.  Going up through the core from below was a common method. 

Sometimes they got in through the side of the apple.  The Cedars were fine with sharing food with others Cedar Waxwings.

Behind the scenes a Cedar Waxwings makes it clear it has no interest in sharing an entrance to an apple with one of their bigger relatives.

The Bohemian Waxwings fed mostly in the dogberry bushes but investigated the apples that interested the Cedars so much.  Maybe the Cedars had a taste for cider.