Subject: Waxwing flocks (formerly starling flocking)
Date: May 14 13:05:48 2001
From: Guttman, Burt - GuttmanB at evergreen.edu


Bob Sundstrom wrote,
> On a similar note, I have read that Cedar Waxwings will also
> forage or move about in flocks while they are still nesting.

Yesterday I observed a fairly large flock of Cedar Waxwings (couldn't count
them, but perhaps 20 or so) feeding in a tall tree with small blossoms in
Olympia, and I wondered what the heck they were doing in a flock, which I
associate with winter behavior, at this time of year. What I thought was
especially interesting was what looked like courting behavior; sometimes two
birds would sit close together on a branch and engage in a kind of mutual
"kissing," where one bird would peck its bill into the open bill of the
other and then a few seconds later the second bird would reciprocate. It
looked almost like one bird feeding the other, but I'm quite sure there was
no food involved. Could this have been the establishment of mating pairs,
which would then leave the flock to start nesting? I don't really
understand how they could continue to form a roaming flock for feeding if
they were nesting in many places distant from one another.

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College 360-867-6755
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu

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