HOLIDAY/WINTER 2020 MONROE LIFE 27
The female flowers are a dull white, and
the berries are a dull red. Fruit matures
in October and persists into winter. Even
though this plant is not as showy as our new
holly cultivars, it is a native plant and has
evolved with the wildlife in the area. Birds
recognize the berries immediately.
Cedar Waxwings are a favorite of many
birders and backyard naturalists. With their
fuzzy-looking crests and sharp color accents,
they’re such dapper-looking birds. I had a
photographer tell me that waxwings are the
prettiest of all birds. I totally agree. A large
flock of them picking through berries is
always a joy to watch.
But what’s in a name? Why is it called a
waxwing? That’s pretty simple: Cedar
Waxwings really have wax wings. The bright
red, visible on the wing feathers, is actually
a waxy red secretion. Interestingly, the red
appendages of Cedar Waxwings increase
in number and size with a bird’s age:
individuals with zero to five waxy tips are
presumable immature birds, while those
with greater than nine are thought to
be older.
Individuals within these two categories
tend to associate as mates. Pairs of older
birds (those with greater than nine waxy
tips) nest earlier and raise more chicks
than do immature birds, suggesting
that this plumage characteristic is an
important signal in mate choice and social
organization. Cedar Waxwings specialize
in eating fruit, an interesting adaptation
among North American birds. While we
think of many birds as dining on berries, in
reality, berries are only a small portion of
their diets. Cedar Waxwings can exist solely
on berries for months.
There are more than 1,000 cultivars
of American holly. If you are planting
hollies, you need one male for every
three females. Early Americans had a
great deal of superstition about hollies.
It was believed that planting hollies near
buildings would provide protection from
witchcraft and lightning. In Tennessee,
these hollies also go by the common
names of Christmas Holly, Yule Holly,
Prickly Holly and Evergreen Holly.
I have several native hollies on the farm.
The American Holly outside my dining
room window had gone unnoticed until
last year. I just happened to be walking by
when I saw movement out of the corner of
my eye. The tree was alive with birds. At
least 35 birds were voraciously eating the
berries. Within 10 minutes, all the berries
were gone, and so were the waxwings; it
was magical.