[EBB Sightings] Backyard birding: Cedar Waxwing

Yesterday and this morning we had CEDAR WAXWING in the yard.

I only noticed a flock of 150+ in one tree yesterday.
This morning, around 9:00am, when I saw the birds on the
same tree, I realized there were more birds on other trees.
I estimated the flock to be 350+ when it flew up and about
in my neighborhood today.

They lingered in my yard / neighborhood for three hour or so.
They flocked and fed on the coffeeberry bushes in my yard in
between resting on tall trees.
There was a neighborhood male AMERICAN ROBIN defended "his"
berries and attempted to drive the CEDAR WAXWING away, it
chased and packed at CEDAR WAXWINGs, a big bird comparing to
CEDAR WAXWING.  Since I have 3 large coffeeberry bushes, the
AMRO stationed near a bush which happened to have the most
berries.
The happy ending is that in mid morning, I found my
coffeeberry bushes completely depleted of any red berries,
not even some that were on the ground earlier.
Too bad for the neighborhood HERMIT THRUSHes and CALIFORNIA
TOWHEEs that frequent the bushes lately.


One other observations is that about 20% of the CEDAR WAXING
(in a flock of ~150) has no red tip on the secondary flight
feathers.  The amount of red varies for each bird, some had
only one or two red tips, others were just stunning in red
tips.   I don't know if 20% for total red tip absence (in a
flock) is a high percentage or not.  And this is just one
small sample.


================

February 9, (about 2 weeks ago), I noticed the return of a
SELASPHORUS Hummingbird in my yard.


Debbie Wong
Hayward