Sep 11 2007
Mystery Bird
I photographed this bird near the top of Corundum Point in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. I returned home got the image up on the screen and tried to identify the bird, so I grabbed my National Audubon Society Field Guide to Birds Eastern Region. This guide has plates of color photographs that you compare your bird to. I thought this might be a waxwing or a grosbeak because it was eating berries. I could not match it up with anything in the book so I emailed a copy of the photo to Laura Erickson, an ornithologist who lives in Duluth. Check out her excellent website at http://www.lauraerickson.com/. Laura identified the bird as a baby cedar waxwing. Many thanks goes to Laura for her help. After this situation, I would like to switch to the Sibley field guide to birds.
This bird is taking advantage of the food that has taken all summer to mature. I had to cover our tomatoes tonight because they are still all green on the vine and we have yet to pick a red one. It seems early to me to have the killing freeze of the season already. I am willing to cover our plants in the coming weeks to extend thier growing season so that we can use the food they provide just like this young cedar waxwing eating mountain ash berries.
