Mike,

While out in Washington County this past weekend along the C & O Canal I 
observed Cedar Waxwings performing the exact same behavior. The only 
difference was that the first bird would pass the flower or fruit to the 
second bird, they would do the jump behavior that you described, and the 
object would be passed back to the first bird. This passing would be 
repeated several times and then one of the birds would eat the object; 
whether it was a fruit or a blossom I couldn't tell. I would have to assume 
that this is a courtship ritual of some type since only two individuals 
would be involved with a single berry and several pairs were doing it.

Ed Boyd
Westminster, MD
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "" <>
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Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 8:19 AM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Cedar Waxwing Behavior


> Hi Everyone,
>
> I observed a flock of Cedar Waxwings feeding on the Black Locust blossoms 
> yesterday morning.  Several different birds would pick blossoms and then 
> feed them to another.  At first it looked indiscriminate but then I 
> noticed one pair exclusively feeding each other.
>
> One would pick a flower and feed it to the other. The one who received 
> would eat it and then the one offering it would jump a few inches away 
> form the bird on the same branch and then jump back next to it. The bird 
> receiving the flower would then do the dame jumping motion and then come 
> back to the same spot.  They repeated the jumping for several more times.
>
> Has anyone aver seen this behavior before? Is this courtship behavior?
>
> I also heard a Black-throated Blue Warbler calling at the same time in 
> Nanjemoy.
>
> Naturally,
> Mike Callahan
> Nanjemoy, Charles County MD