"Critters"--Cedar Waxwings

January 7, 2026

Art on wings

I met Cedar Waxwings the hard way, in the winter of 1990-91, upon return to Spokane after a couple years in South Carolina and Georgia

I was freshly married and my wife and I had rented half a duplex in Browne’s Addition near the museum. There was a mature Mountain Ash tree just outside a large kitchen window. One winter morning it was mobbed by a flock of birds. The cats were fascinated but I had other things on my mind in those years. It was easy not to pay much attention to what seemed to be just a noisy flock of relatively small birds. They made a high-pitched trilling sound. Interesting, but not show-stopping.

But then they started flying into the window. The berries had fermented. The birds were flying drunk. And, slightly horrified, I went out to assess. Sadly, one had hit the window so hard it was lifeless. But, wow, was it colorful: an incredibly sleek, mahogany body; a crest on its head above a black mask, with red wingtips of red and yellow tips on the tail. It was not the kind of detail you could notice until you were close and, holding it in my hand, it was really close, and really beautiful.

They obviously love fruit, but in spring and summer they do a fair amount of fly-catching. They will sometimes perch on the outer branches of a small serviceberry tree on the shore, near where I warm myself after summer swims in the Spokane River. From there they will fly out over the water, snag a flying insect, and return to perch.

Fly-catching pair by the river

Out on a limb, at the marsh

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—tjc