What John James Audubon called Cedar Birds are now commonly known as Cedar waxwings. At Galveston Bay in April of 1837, Audubon noted that Cedar waxwings were “very numerous.” The birds in their inseparable flocks can be easily seen and heard in their wintering grounds while perching high up on the leafless branches of dormant deciduous trees. Soft ringing bells and wind chimes do their best to compare to the calls and songs of the Cedar waxwing. Most remarkable to Audubon was how long Cedar waxwings languish before migrating to their nesting sites. “Now, kind reader, can you give a reason why these birds are so tardy in laying their eggs and rearing their young? It cannot be through want of fruit for the food of their progeny, as the young birds, being at first fed on insects, might continue to be so, at a season when these abound, and as the old birds themselves evince pleasure at seizing them on the wing on all occasions.” If Cedar waxwings are like every other group, they almost always travel slower than if everyone moved as one.
Plate 43 – Cedar Bird
Plate 43 of the first edition of "Birds of America" by John James Audubon.