Cedar Waxwings and Winterberry

Cedar Waxwing; note 'wax-like' deposits
at tips of wings and tail.

In Acton, at the end of Sylvia Street (a dead end road on the west side of Route 27 as one heads toward Maynard) there is a small parking lot and a pedestrian ramp providing access to the Assabet River Rail Trail. As one descends the ramp, looking over the fence, there is a row of winterberry bushes. 

I anticipated seeing the leaf-bare winterberry branches sporting a generous display of red berries. Instead, they looked picked over. And then I saw the culprits. A flock of about 20-25 Cedar Waxwings were alternating between sunning themselves in the branches of a near-by tree and diving down into the shade to sample the berries. 

Cedar Waxwings and Robins consume winterberry berries, along with other berries, but most of the over-wintering bird species such as Sparrows, Cardinals and Blue Jays do not. Waxwings are not long-distance migrators, but they do tend to heas south - to our area - in winter. Robins, in contrast, summer here but in the past almost all migrated south for winter, returning in spring. (Hence, "First robin of spring.") However, what with invasive plants that provide berries - for example multi-flora rose, Oriental bittersweet and Japanese barberry - significant numbers of Robins stay year-round.