Nesting Cedar Waxwings 
     
    
   
   
    
     On August lst, a caller 
     
     to the Fish and Wildlife 
     
     Division requested identi- 
     
     fication of a "brown bird" 
     
     nesting in a backyard, and 
     
     being available, I duly 
     
     proceeded to Brackley Pt. 
     
     Rd. with binoculars in hand. 
     
     Of course I was expecting 
     
     it to be a House Sparrow 
     
     so it was with delight that 
     
     I beheld instead a cedar 
     
     waxwing. Waxwings are 
     
     relatively common here in 
     
     some years but it is not 
     
     often that nests are lo- 
     
     cated, and indeed there are 
     
     only 2 recofids for P.E.I. 
     
     in the Maritime Nest 
     
     Records repository. The 
     
     first of these was reported 
     
     by Stanley Vass about 15 
     
     years ago. , _ 
     
    

    
     The female waxwing was 
     
     on the nest when I arrived 
     
     and would not budge when I 
     
     stuck my face about a foot 
     
     from hers. Further visits 
     
     had the same result so I 
     
     relied on the owners of 
     
     the backyard, Mr. and Mrs. 
     
     Joe Paguet to report on 
     
     the progress of the clutch. 
     
     The Paquets inspected the 
     
     nest in the rare moments 
     
     when the female absented 
     
     it. (According to the 
     
     Field Guide the female 
     
     rarely leaves the nest 
     
     until the young have 
     
     hatched, and is fed by the 
     
     male throughout this time.) 
     
     On August 15 the Paquets 
     
     were able to ascertain 
     
    

    
     . that 4 young and one egg 
     
     " were present. 
     
    
   
   
    
     This brings us to a 
     
     curious fact about cedar 
     
     waxwings. While it is 
     
     well known that raptors 
     
     begin incubation when 
     
     they lay the first egg, 
     
     it is not often.that 
     
     paSSerines or "dickey 
     
     birds" use the same 
     
     nesting strategy. The 
     
     cedar waxwing is one that E3 
     
     '.does} and the end result - 
     
    
   
   
    
     is that the young hatch 
     
     out in series, the oldest 
     
     in this case being over 
     
    

    
     5 days older than the 
     
     youngest. Joel Carl 
     
     Welty in The Life of 
     
     Birds reports that loons, 
     
     grebes, pelicans, herons, 
     
     many gulls, swifts and 
     
     hummingbirds incubate with 
     
     the first 699; but when 
     
     listing passerines which 
     
     do so he mentions only "a 
     
    
   
   
    
     few passerine species." 
     
    
   
   
    
     The‘only advantage of 
     
     incubating with the first 
     
     egg seems to be a better 
     
     protection of the eggs.. 
     
     Welty says that the longer 
     
     eggs are exposed to danger 
     
     from enemies or storms the 
     
     less chance for survival. 
     
     For example, a robin which 
     
     waits until 4 eggs are laid 
     
     before incubating, has 
     
     exposed the first 3 to 
     
     danger by not covering 
     
     them with her body. The 
     
     disadvantage of using the 
     
     waxwings' strategy involves 
     
     the fate of the last'few 
     
     eggs. When the first- 
     
     hatched young require food, 
     
     the parents may not be able 
     
     t9 properly incubate the 
     
     remaining eggs. Welty 
     
     notes that barn owls may 
     
     eat the youngest nestlings, 
     
     producing the same end 
     
     result. _ 
     
    

    
     " On August 26, the 
     
     condition of the waxwings 
     
     nest indicated an untimely 
     
     end for at least two ofthe 
     
     young waxwings. The nest 
     
     was found on the ground, 
     
     feathers were scattered 
     
     about and two young were 
     
     found dead. There were no 
     
     signs of live young in the 
     
    
   
   
    
     immediate area._ v 
     
     During this same week, 
     
    
   
   
    
     a second cedar waxwing nest 
     
     with two dead young was 
     
     reported to Nelson Hurry. 
     
     The nest Was located in 
     
     Sherwood not far from 
     
     Paquets. 
     
     ' Rosemary Curley 
     
     Fish and Wildlife