Recently we had a cedar waxwing come to us with no particularly terrible condition other than the fact that he was cold. Many cedar waxwings migrate south for the winter, although like most species of songbirds there is always a small percent that choose to stay behind. They are specialized fruit eating birds, and even during the winter they can find sugary food primarily in the form of juniper berries. Despite the fact that winter is survivable for these birds, it is still not particularly pleasant. The cold is just as unfortunate for a bird as it is for us

Unlike most of the other cedar waxwings that try to stay warm in their nests, this little bird had a plan. A local woman woke up one morning to find that he had taken up residence inside of her car. It was enclosed, warmer than the outside, and sheltered from wind. She tried to get him to leave, but when he refused she fed him and gave him water instead. It seemed impractical to have the bird live out the winter in her car however, so she brought him to us, where he will be able to stay even warmer until we release him for the early spring.

Here he gets free food and a warm bed, so I guess he outsmarted the ones who decided to fly all the way down South!