Cedar Waxwing – picture from www.phase.com
As the leaves float off the trees, flocks of birds hit our yard to pull berries and seeds off the trees. The last of these flocks this year are the Cedar Waxwings.
Over the past two weeks, when my dog and I walk in the woods, one or two cedar waxwings fly along with us and sing a song of trills and whistles. Since they are trying very hard to get my attention, I spent some time finding out about the bird.
First, the birds are migratory, and arrive in Calgary in the early spring, any time in March. They come in flocks of hundreds, and several flocks visit our back yard, and sit on our mountain ash, eating berries. Cedar Waxwing’s diet is pretty much always fruit and berries (it loves the sweetness of life) except at breeding time, when it will eat insects as well. In fact, the berries that it eats may affect the coloring of the feathers, making the light red/orange a much more vibrant red, and changing the yellow color to a more orangey-red hue.
Second, while their favorite habitat is woodland with access to lots of berries, the Waxwing loves to be near open, running water, such as a stream, creek, or river. Waxwing needs lots of water to help process its sugar rich diet.
Third, Waxwings mate in early summer, coming together as a pair only for the season. They make their vows as a couple by passing flower petals or some food back and forth. They may have two nests through the summer as the eggs hatch within two weeks, and the young leave the nest after eighteen days. Both parents feed the young.
Waxwing teaches lessons around going beyond the physical demands of the body (food and shelter needs found in the base chakra) and speaks to the joy of belonging, for they belong in flocks and pairs (which is what the second and third chakras, orange and yellow in color are about), and Waxwing sings of the sweetness of life. Its love of running water is about letting all emotions run off your body. Feel them to the utmost and then let them go. It is stuck emotions that cause pain and illness, for many people. Waxwing’s mask is a reminder that sometimes all that other see is the mask that they perceive. And, for many of us, our truth is hidden, even from ourselves.
Wishing you days of light and laughter.
Many blessings,
Judy
