Uberfun: Bandit, the cedar waxwing

[vaneramos]

The most interesting and lovable pet I ever had was a cedar waxwing. I found him as a featherless nestling when I was about 16. His nest had been raided by squirrels. I picked him up, not expecting him to live. But he did, in my parents' sunporch for 14 years.

I named him Bandit for his looks, but it suited his personality, too. Waxwings are gregarious, eccentric birds. These traits carried over into the life of our family, of which he became an irreplaceable part. He was the quintessential charmer; seven inches of verve and camaraderie. He wanted to be neither above us, like a cat, nor below us, like a dog, but our equal.

I have given a fuller account of Bandit's life in a series of three articles I wrote for Suite101.com in 2000. The first is Masked bandit on the wing, Part 1. Click the "Next Article" link at the top of each to access the next.

Waxwings are nomadic creatures always searching for their preferred food, berries. They will vanish for weeks or months, then reappear unexpectedly in large numbers. They don't have much of a song, just a high, thin whistle. The sound of a flock flying overhead always brings a lump to my throat.

If I could choose any animal for a pet I would say, without hesitation, another cedar waxwing. However if I ever found a stranded nestling again I would do the right thing and deliver it to a wild bird clinic.

This post is uberdaddybear's uberfun task for the day.

Comments

[missprune.livejournal.com]

I get excited when I see a flock of cedar waxwings, usually in large numbers and going after those mountain ash berries. But once not long ago, I was surprised to see a lone cedar waxwing.
I can't help thinking, Van, that a small beautiful book about your pet would be a great thing! Such an unusual experience.
You say you would do the right thing and take a bird to the wild bird clinic if the same circumstance arose again. But it sounds as though your pet had a wonderful life - I had no idea they could live 14 years!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I have considered writing a book about Bandit. Unfortunately I didn't keep a journal at the time and have trouble piecing together enough memories to write more than is contained in those three articles. This is one of the most frustrating effects of many years of undiagnosed depression. My early life is foggy.

The age thing is interesting. It is a biological principle that the life span of animals is generally proportionate to their size. For example, elephants and whales live a long time while mice do not. Songbirds as a group are a rare exception to this. In captivity they often live longer than bandit did. Scientists don't know why.

In the wild, most baby birds do not survive to adulthood. Those that do rarely live longer than 3 or 4 years because they are so susceptible to predators and bad weather. One theory is that, because their mortality is so high, songbirds lack the genetic mechanism which seems to bring about old age in many animals. Of course this is an intriguing subject for research.

[jwg.livejournal.com]

What a nice story that is about a very special situation. It is definitely worth writing more publicly about it than just in your LJ. I'd encourage you to rack your brains, use a small amount of journalistic license and try writing and publishing something more extensive.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I assume you mean artistic license. As a journalism student I was taught to stick to the facts. It is a strict principle in the nature writing genre, too. Annie Dillard caused controversy and probably lost some credibility when she admitted to having fabricated some of the observations she described in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. That is a personal essay, though. It's different from a memoir like Rascal or Owls in the Family which obviously required imaginative techniques to weave novels out of childhood memories. As you suggest, it's my story to tell however I wish. But I balk at the line between journalism and literature.