Remember the movie Mary Poppins, and how she stated she would take care of the Banks children till the wind changed??! Migrating birds have a similar view and when the wind shifted out of the NW around sunrise this morning, migration was back on! In my own yard I discovered that one of my two mountain ash trees had ripe berries, while one did not. Around 11 am migrating waxwings cleaned out one of my trees of all of its berries in 20 minutes, and totally ignored the mountain ash tree with lighter red fruit. Most of the this morning’s flock appeared to be juveniles.
Cedar Waxwings
Drunken Cedar Waxwings! I recall years ago in northern Minnesota finding Cedar Waxwings seemingly dead lying underneath Fall-ripe Mountain Ash Berry trees in our yard. I was ready to toss the dead birds into the trash when my father said, “Put ’em someplace where the dog can’t get ’em until they sober up!”
I remember drunken evening grosbeaks in the mountain ash trees at our family Duluth home as a child. However, one needs that first frost to get those berries fermenting, or maybe that is why the cedar waxwing’s flight pathes were real crooked yesterday!!?