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the bird’s name is derived.
So strong is the flocking drive of waxwings that the individual does not exist except at nesting time. The flock behaves as an individual as they did when descending on the privet shrub. As one the flock came, as one they left.
Once, on a field trip with an ornithology class at the Madeira School in McLean, the students and I watched a flock of over a hundred waxwings settle into an enormous holly tree covered with red berries. It was a cold day in February and the tree was part of a mockingbird’s winter food supply. The berries were being guarded against all consumers. The hunger of the birds and the strong flocking drive combined to thwart the mockingbird. He spent his energy on attempting to drive the birds from the holly tree with no success. The birds stripped the tree of its red fruits and then, as one, quietly moved on.
The Cedar Waxwings did not eat all of the blue-black fruits of the privet in our yard. I went out to check and found clusters of the berries hanging like clusters of tiny grapes. Maybe another flock of waxwings will silently descend some day.
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