SUBURBAN KINGBIRDS AND WAXWINGS

     Late in August of 2023, I was surprised to see a few each of eastern kingbirds and cedar waxwings eating drupes from a choke cherry tree in our suburban lawn in New Holland, Pennsylvania.  Both species may have nested here, but I didn't notice them until late August.  I wondered if they raised young here because they are, basically, farmland birds in Pennsylvania.   

     Eastern kingbirds and cedar waxwings, though unrelated, have characteristics in common.  Both are about the same size and shape.  They nest on twigs in deciduous trees in farmland in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Both kinds of birds have a band of light color at the end of their darker tails, which may help those birds keep track of members of their respective species.  And they quickly sweep into mid-air, from twig, wire or fence perches, to catch and ingest flying insects on the wing.  Both these bird species are entertaining to watch repeatedly catching flying insects in the air.     

     But these species have differences from each other, which aids in our identifying them.  Kingbirds are nearly black on top, white below and have a white band at the end of the tail.  Waxwings are a lovely tawny-brown, with a black mask around each eye, a crest and a yellow band on the end of the tail.  

     Kingbirds mostly raise young in twig and grass cradles in lone trees in fields and meadows.  Many of those pastures have streams running through them; waterways that are bordered on both sides by riparian trees, including silver maples, sycamores and river birches.  Many pairs of waxwings rear offspring in twig and grass nurseries on those floodplain trees.  Some nesting kingbirds and waxwings, therefore, are neighbors. 

     Our suburban area is composed of short-grass lawns, trees and shrubbery.  But there is a two-acre cornfield in our neighborhood this year and a two-acre lawn adjacent to that field, perhaps making our neighborhood look just enough like cropland to attract a pair of nesting eastern kingbirds.  And our home area has several trees of various sizes, maybe making it attractive to nesting cedar waxwings.

     At any rate, our neighborhood is attractive, at times, to both these adaptable, beautiful kinds of birds, perhaps even for raising young.  Suburbs are a fast growing, human-made habitat that might be good for an ever-greater number of bird species to rear babies in, thus increasing their ranges and numbers.      

   

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