--Condensed from The Best of the Raven, Friends of Algonquin Park
Cedar waxwings feed on fruit. Fruit ripens at various times of the year and is plentiful when it does; thus, the birds must travel from fruit patch to fruit patch throughout the breeding season. So there is no point in establishing breeding territories but there is a good reason to live all summer in a flock. With birds, experience counts and the ideal mate has sufficient maturity to have at least survived a season, but without territories how is a bird to choose? (Drumroll please.) By the red markers on the wings. (Research done in Algonquin Park .)
(Thanks, lovetobird--I didn't know about 1st winter & juvenile plumage. And I love the clarity of these photos so I can go back & study.)
John, I think you're right about the elderberries (Sambucus canadensis, I think). The berry clusters and the sharp-pointed, serrated leaves are consistent. (Shrubs of Ontario, ROM) (Can't tell if the leaves are compound, though.)
What I really noticed about the plant is the red branches holding the berries. Birds can see colour, & the red (plus the dark blue of the berries) would signal to them that the fruit is ripe. (The plant "wants" birds to eat its fruit 'cause that's how the plant scatters its seeds far enough away from the parent to give the next generation a chance first to grow unshaded by the parent & second to expand to new territories.)[/i]
