If it’s June, go find a Juneberry shrub or tree (or call it serviceberry or Amelanchier, if you prefer) bearing fruit. Cedar Waxwings may be there as well as other birds. They are all after the berries.
A fellow birder asked me the other day if I had seen the Cedar Waxwings in Isham Park, the pretty landscaped community park on a high hill east of Inwood Hill Park. I said I would go look for them.
I found the waxwings but not right away. They have a way of being discrete, flying away when discovered and only returning to their favored fruit trees when the moment brings stillness and silence. They work in groups.
June 4, 2024.
The waxwings descended on a cluster of four Juneberries in the middle of an open lawn. The highly nutritious berries offered a feast for these fruit-loving birds.
I returned to Isham Park on the morning of June 6, a day after considerable rain. I found the waxwings still busy with the Juneberries, but a bright House Finch caught my eye. Its bright red head matched the color of the fruit. The finch gorged on the rain-soaked berries, seemingly growing redder with the effort and delirious with the feast.
The Cedar Waxwings came along, too, in their discrete manner and went about their business.
Cover: Cedar Waxwing in a Juneberry. June 4, 2024. 9:27 a.m. Isham Park, Northern Manhattan, NYC. Isham Park (NYC Parks website) is bounded by Broadway, Isham Street, Seaman Avenue, and West 214th and 215th Streets.
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