>From what I've read, Cedar Waxwings are noted for breeding at odd times of
year (often late summer), therefore, I suspect that birds moving and
foraging in flocks aren't currently nesting.

Dennis Rockwell Kennewick, WA dennis.rockwell at gte.net

One fifth of the people are against everything all the time.
Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)

-----Original Message-----
From: Guttman, Burt <GuttmanB at evergreen.edu>
To: 'ixoreus at home.com' <ixoreus at home.com>; dpaulson at ups.edu
<dpaulson at ups.edu>; tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, May 14, 2001 1:09 PM
Subject: Waxwing flocks (formerly starling flocking)


>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
>
>Reunite Gondwana