It's super cold again, but much of our ground cover snow melted during last week's unseasonably warm weather. For the Deming Way Cedar Waxwing flock, this revealed a treasure trove of exposed crabapple berries that had fallen to the ground earlier in the season. I don't typically see waxwings foraging on the ground, so I gathered my digiscoping gear and walked across the street to photograph them eating.
Waxwings have the perfect bill, gape, and tongue for consuming large berries. The last photograph in this series even shows the bizarre tongue barbs waxwings (and other birds) have to help them maneuver food to the back of their throat. I haven't seen any Bohemian Waxwings since early December, but the cedars are still beautiful birds to admire and photograph.
All images © 2013 Mike McDowell