Imagine an introduced plant species changing the color of a beloved songbird native to North and Central America. This does happen. In the image above, you see two Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) sharing a birdbath with a Robin. Those Cedar Waxwings are sporting bright yellow tail tips. That’s what I expect to see.

But if a Cedar Waxwing consumes enough red berries of the introduced Morrow’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii) during the time of feather development, the tail feathers, rather than being bright yellow, will be bright orange. This change in color was first noticed in the 1960s in northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Who would have thought?