UK: What berries are your Waxwings eating? (2 Viewers)

[Nightranger]

I've seen them on sloes in the past too. I guess the obvious conclusion is that Waxwings will turn to pretty much anything once the rowan berries are gone (which I assume they will mostly are by now). I wonder whether cotoneaster comes out top in this tiny sample because they are so popular in towns and gardens where the birds are most likely to be noticed?

Odd (or maybe not) you should mention this because I have always had the distinct impression that waxwings tend to go for a much wider range of berries than our resident birds. I have always put this down to the species having quite a wide geographical range and therefore more regularly coming into contact with the exotic bushes we tend to plant around supermarket car parks. This also seems to be (at least, partially) confirmed when migrant thrushes arrive, which tend to go for hawthorns quite quickly whereas our resident birds tend to leave hawthorns until everything else has gone.

To answer John O' Sullivan, I am not sure how birds determine whether a berry is edible or not but presumably they do so quite quickly and retain some memory too. It is quite possible the ones you have are cultivars of a more familiar species and the birds have learned that they are not very good in some way.

 

[GYRob]

Seems to be mostly Rowan round our way .
Rob.

 

[Clive A]

C40 feeding on Rowan, but when chased off by the local Mistle Thrushes 2 were seen feeding on Hawthorn.

 

[Jack Dawe]

Updated list (because I forgot to include Bartolli's rowan before)

3 x rowan
3 x cotoneaster ssp
2 x rosehips
2 x wild privet
2 x yew
2 x hawthorn
1 x guelder rose
1 x Swedish whitebeam (sorbus intermedia)
1 x crab apple
1 x palm seed

I've not included a couple of posts above since I think they are referring to past observations and, while these are still interesting, I want to confine the list to this year.

(By the way, is there any way of editing an old post?)

 

[d.steeley]

Thank you for the replies. Keep them coming!

I'm very interested that the Mylor birds were eating yew berries. I had the impression (no idea why - obviously wrong) that Waxwings didn't like them. Palm seeds is surprising! Maybe I needn't give up hope with my sunflower hearts yet!! :-O

Hi, perhaps it is, I believe, because the only part of a Yew tree that is not poisonous is the 'red berries' (botanically known as arils). The seeds are very toxic so if they are also eating the seeds they probably get rid of them quite quickly.

Dave

 

[Jack Dawe]

The Waxwings at Exeter services are feeding on hawthorn berries.

3 x rowan
3 x hawthorn
3 x cotoneaster ssp
2 x rosehips
2 x wild privet
2 x yew
1 x guelder rose
1 x Swedish whitebeam (sorbus intermedia)
1 x crab apple
1 x palm seed

Doesn't seem worth bothering planting pyracantha, does it? At least, not for Waxwings.

 

[joannec]

Guelder and Hawthorn.

 

[Simon Wates]

A vagrant bird in N. Spain has been reported feeding on Holly (there should be plenty of Hawthorn around) - thought maybe of interest as no-one has mentioned Holly.

 

[punkskaphil]

The dozen or so I saw in Oxted, Surrey on Christmas morning were eating rosehips.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

A few weeks ago I saw a flock of about 30-35 birds feeding with hackberries (Celtis occidentalis) in a park in Bucharest.

 

[fugl]

Bohemian Waxwings (as we call them) are quite uncommon in Reno & I have no specific records of what they eat but they're generally with Cedar Waxwings & presumably feed on many of the same things. I have a long list of berries eaten by Cedars, almost half of which (pyracantha, cotoneaster, crab apple, rowan, hawthorn) have already been mentioned in the thread as Bohemian food. Here are the other items:
1. Virginia creeper
2. Oregon grape
3. Juniper sps (incl. Red cedar)
4. "Tame" privet
5. Ripening cherries
6. Apple blossoms
7. "Blueberry suet" (commercial suet cake containing damn few blueberries as far as I can tell)

The local Cedars also do a lot of flycatching from the tops of tall trees--particularly big cottonwoods along the Truckee River--in the spring & fall. Waxwings are mainly depths-of-winter birds in Britain (is that right?), so you might not see seasonal behavior of this kind locally even if your birds indulge in it elsewhere in their range.

Hope I've haven't dragged the discussion too far OT. . ..

 

[Julian Bell]

I've seen them on mistletoe on more than one occasion

For a picture showing the after-effects of Waxwings eating Mistletoe see this unfortunate web page (bottom of page if you pardon the pun).

To answers the question about berries. By the time Waxwings pass through where I live (coast of SW Norway) virtually all the rowan berries have been cleaned out by the hordes of thrushes and starlings that migrate earlier.

By the time most of the Waxwings pass through they are limited to juniper for natural food, though they do eye up my Yew and cotoniaster berries from time to time.

 

[Zheljko]

They were observed on mistletoe bushes in another city close to here.
We are waiting to see them here.

 

[King Edward]

There's a flock of about 25 Waxwings here in Herefordshire that's been feeding (exclusively?) on Mistletoe berries in an old apple orchard for over a week. The trees are completely covered in Mistletoe bushes, so there are still quite a lot of berries left.

Hi, perhaps it is, I believe, because the only part of a Yew tree that is not poisonous is the 'red berries' (botanically known as arils). The seeds are very toxic so if they are also eating the seeds they probably get rid of them quite quickly.

Some birds do eat the actual seeds, including Great Tits which I often see/hear hammering the seeds open, so presumably they can deal with the toxins.