Oct. 18, 2015 - Cedar Waxwings Eating Berries

When Diana and I visited the North Shore at the end of September, we stayed at Fenstad’s Resort, as we’ve done for many years. The Mountain Ash trees were loaded with berries.

MountainAshBerriesFenstad'sResortLittleMarais20150921

One day a group of juvenile Cedar Waxwings descended on a Mountain Ash tree and feasted on the berries.

WaxwingCedarjuvenileeatingMountainAshBerriesFenstad'sResortLittleMarais20150921

In summer, Cedar Waxwings eat lots of insects but in fall and winter, they turn to fruit as the main part of their diet. They are good at digesting the flesh of the fruit but the seeds pass right through the birds. Cedar Waxwings are also quite mobile so their droppings are helpful in starting new fruit trees in other locations.

WaxwingCedarjuvenileeatingMountainAshBerriesFenstad'sResortLittleMarais20150921

The rapid fire feature of my digital camera allowed me to capture four successive shots showing a waxwing swallowing a berry.

WaxwingCedarjuvenileeatingMountainAshBerriesswallowingsequenceFenstad'sResortLittleMarais20150921composite

Sometimes a photo reveals a fascinating feature about a bird that would otherwise be hard to see. This waxwing’s tongue looks like it’s raised at the back end. It also appears to have two sharp points that help to keep the berry from popping out of the bird’s mouth. From this angle, one could think that the tongue is attached at the front of the bird’s mouth.

WaxwingCedarjuvenilewithMountainAshBerriestonguepositionFenstad'sResortLittleMarais20150921

This side view also makes the tongue look like it is attached at the front.

WaxwingCedarjuvenilewithMountainAshBerriestonguepositionFenstad'sResortLittleMarais20150921

But this photo makes it clear that the tongue is indeed attached at the back end; it is a very flexible tool to help the waxwing eat berries.

WaxwingCedarjuvenilewithMountainAshBerriestonguepositionFenstad'sResortLittleMarais20150921