Year after year, my spouse laments about our sparse harvest of Saskatoon berries. My attempts to comfort him with logical explanations including less rain, too much sun, not enough sun, and need to fertilize, are fruitless. He insists the birds are stealing nature’s sugary and tasty treats from our yard! I, being partial to our feathered friends, was skeptical until very recently….
One late afternoon, I heard a high pitched whistle-like sound coming from my yard. I looked out the window and was treated with the sight a colorful visitor in the Saskatoon berry bush, a Cedar Waxwing!
Playfully colored and perpetually styled feathers, a spiked crest on a rotund body make this bird very endearing to watch. I grabbed my camera to capture a few images of the photogenic waxwing. As my camera shuttered clicked, the passerine visitor shamelessly plucked and gulped large berries from my bush!
I discovered this feathered critter is no bird brain! With a large plump berry in its beak, it tilts its head back to use gravity to move the fruit slowly to the back of its mouth for easy ingestion!
Upon reflecting, I was bamboozled by the waxwing’s extreme cuteness and bright colors! The domino mask over its eyes was a dead giveaway this feathered critter was up to no good! Now to break the news to my spouse: he was right, the birds are stealing our berries…
Leave a Reply