Naturalist's Corner - A Cedar Waxwing Celebration

This month, I thought it would be fun to have us take a closer look at a beautiful bird that is a treat to see in winter in out area. Our guest naturalist today to tell us more about this lovely bird is Jon Rigdon. He does very informative blog posts on the flora, fauna and ecosystems of the Driftless prairie areas at the Friends of the Blufflands blog . Jon is a retired physician and loves spending time learning about and appreciating nature while trying to inspire others to do the same. He is a board member of Friends of the Blufflands and The Prairie Enthusiasts. He spends a lot of time by himself and leading groups to restore habitats, focusing on nearby remnant prairies such as in Hixon Forest. 

This February 16, 2025 post, Cedar Waxwings on the Bluff in Winter! by Jonathan Rigdon from the Friends of the Blufflands blog is reprinted with permission.

On February 7th while working on the bluffs, a lone cedar waxwing paid us a visit. Usually present in flocks, it was sitting alone in a bush, rather passive and undisturbed by our presence. In fact, it let me get within a few feet to take this photo with my phone before sluggishly flying off to another nearby bush. What a wonderful sight to see on a cold, windy day!

Image - Jon Rigdon

Although it is said that many cedar waxwings migrate south, some choose to stay in Wisconsin in the winter if there are enough berries present, which they feed on almost exclusively during these months. In fact, the name "cedar" comes from the fact that one of its favorite fruits in fall and winter are red cedar berries...which is not actually a cedar, but is really a juniper. So, maybe we should start calling it the "Juniper Waxwing"! And maybe that's why all of those red cedars keep popping up on the bluff prairies courtesy of this bird!Here are some "Cool Facts" about this bird from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

• The name "waxwing" comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may help attract mates.

• Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats enough of the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange.

• The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Brown-headed Cowbirds that are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests typically don’t survive, in part because the cowbird chicks can’t develop on such a high-fruit diet.

• Many birds that eat a lot of fruit separate out the seeds and regurgitate them, but the Cedar Waxwing lets them pass right through. Scientists have used this trait to estimate how fast waxwings can digest fruits.

• Because they eat so much fruit, Cedar Waxwings occasionally become intoxicated or even die when they run across overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol.

• Building a nest takes a female Cedar Waxwing 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2,500 individual trips to the nest. They occasionally save time by taking nest materials from other birds’ nests, including nests of Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, orioles, robins, and Yellow Warblers.

• The oldest recorded Cedar Waxwing was a male and at least 7 years, 1 month old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Maryland in 2014. He was originally banded in the same state in 2008.

As said, these birds are known to become intoxicated from eating fermented berries in the winter. Maybe our little fellow was off by itself and let us get so close because he was drunk! Unfortunately, these beautiful birds eat and spread a wide variety of berries, including the plants we battle on the prairie such as honeysuckle, Oriental bittersweet, barberry, and buckthorn. But what a joy to have this amazing bird out there making a living in the subzero temperatures of Wisconsin while adding color to the drab months of winter!

Thanks Jon and thanks to The Friends of the Blufflands for the great blog!

Naturalist's Corner - Fall Spider Work

Welcome to our new, occasional column that takes a deeper look at the natural world we see around us as we hike. Our guest writer today is Tracey Koenig, purveyor of interesting tidbits. Tracey is a retired nature center director currently living in Wisconsin.  Always interested in the natural world, Tracey shares her nature knowledge to help others understand the natural world around them.

Eensy-Weensy spider - well, not so much in October!

As we begin the wind-down from fall toward winter in the upper Midwest, you may have noticed that there are spider webs and spiders everywhere you look!  They seem to have appeared out of nowhere and they are huge!  So where have they been? 

These spiders have been there all along, but they start out the year as tiny little spiders.  Suddenly, about the middle of August, you find them everywhere.  In this neck of the woods, spider life cycles are usually limited to one summer, so their life cycle is on a deadline! 

The huge spiders you see in webs at this time of year are females.  They are eating and growing in advance of making the egg sacs that will protect the spider eggs through the winter.  Where is Dad all this time?  Look closely in the web for a small spider - that’s Dad.  Some female spiders eat the male right after mating.  

A be-dewed orb weaver web

The two most common spiders we see here in the upper Midwest are the orb weavers and the funnel web spiders.  Orb weavers include the beautiful black and yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia).  As a kid growing up in Ohio, we always called them “Zipper Spiders”.  Take a look at their web and the reason for the name will become clear.  Every year an industrious Zipper Spider would weave her web across the front door of our house.  My mom would announce that the front door was now off limits, and we should all come and go through the garage. 

Zipper spiders are fun to watch on their webs.  If she senses something nearby that concerns her, she will vibrate the web, so it swings in and out in an attempt to ward off whatever it is that she is worried about.  You can encourage her to vibrate the web if you gently blow on the “zipper”.  You can “feed” her if you capture some insects (taking into consideration the size of the web and spider.  Prey that is too big can destroy the web).  Just toss the insect into the web and stand back. You’ll be treated to a demonstration of how this spider wraps its prey in silk.  There are several species of orb weavers in this area, and all have round “marble-like” bodies and beautiful circular webs.

Funnel Spider web.
Though hard to see in this image,
the funnel descends to the right
above the twist in the lower part of the image

Funnel web spiders are also very common, though their unique web is not often seen.  They will spin a flat web for catching prey and add a funnel at a corner where the spider hides until something in the web needs attention.  You can see sheet-like funnel webs on top of grass, on top of shrubs, and anywhere the combination of flat surface and corners is perfect for web construction.  When you’re out and about, look at corners of structures to find the female waiting for prey.

What happens to the spider over winter?  Yellow garden spiders (and other orb weavers) make one to several egg sacs that survive the winter, but the female dies when her job is complete.  Male funnel web spiders die after they have mated.  The female creates the egg sac and then dies as winter is setting in.  Egg sacs of both species produce young in the spring, and the cycle begins again. 

Images - Marge Loch-Wouters