Bird of the Month: Cedar Waxwing
Written by Andy McCormick
Andy McCormick, Volunteer and Former Board President of Eastside Audubon
A bird has a sleek crest, a black mask across the silky brown face, a berry in its mouth, and a yellow band across the tip of its tail. It must be a Cedar Waxwing!
FRUGIVORE
The Cedar Waxwings are lovers of fruits and in their search for ripening berries and other crops they have evolved a nomadic lifestyle. Holding off until a good source of fruiting trees and shrubs is available, waxwings will nest later in the summer than other birds. However, prior to nesting they will expand their diet to include insects, which they glean from shrubs and tree leaves. They can often be seen sallying out from a perch to catch insects in midair. The bugs provide protein for egg development and form the initial diet for waxwing offspring.
Cedar Waxwings will be seen in flocks most of the year, but less so during the nesting period when they focus on their own brood. The pair build an open cup nest of loosely arranged twigs, grass, and weeds lined with finer grass and animal hair. Usually, 3-5 eggs are deposited. Incubation takes about two weeks, and the young leave the nest in another two weeks. Cedar Waxwings often fledge two broods per year (Kaufman).
Cedar Waxwing
Scientific Name: Bombycilla cedrorum
Length: 7.25”
Wingspan: 12”
Weight: 1.1 oz (32g)
AOU Alpha Code: CEWA
A NON-SINGER
Cedar Waxwings do not sing. This unusual characteristic for a passerine is likely in response to little need for these birds to establish defended territories. They nest in fairly close proximity to other nests in the vicinity of a source of fruiting trees (Alderfer and Dunn). However, waxwings call frequently when feeding and in flight. The waxwings stay in mutual contact with a very high-pitched screeee call, which can carry long distances and reaches the upper limit of human hearing (Witmer, et al).
The Cedar Waxwing is placed in the genus Bombycilla, from the Latin, bombyx, meaning silk, in reference to the silky look of their feathers. The Bohemian Waxwing (B. garrulus) and Japanese Waxwing (B. japonica) are the only other two waxwings. The bird’s affinity for cedar and juniper trees provided a basis for its common English name. All the waxwings are named for the wax-like red tips of their secondary wing feathers.
STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION
The population of Cedar Waxwings has benefited from the incorporation of exotic fruiting plants in suburban gardens. This additional food source is credited with the waxwing’s expansion of both its range and numbers (Alderfer and Dunn). The Ceder’s breeding range now extends in a band over the middle of North America from Southeastern Alaska to Northern California in the west to the area between New England south to North Carolina. The Cedar Waxwing is a resident bird of Washington, and the local birds are joined by some migrants from Canada in winter. However, if berries are still available in winter, waxwings may remain in place.
FORAGING SOURCES
Cedar Waxwings forage in roving flocks that can number in the hundreds at times. In the Pacific Northwest they seek serviceberry and mulberry in early summer, and they will consume cherries, red-osier dogwood, and raspberries later in the year. In winter they seek out cedar and juniper trees, mistletoe, madrone, and peppertree berries. They eat the fruits whole and pass the seeds intact back into the environment becoming a major disperser of fruiting plants (Witmer, et al). As fruits mature in warm weather, they can ferment and waxwings which gorge on them can appear to become intoxicated and have some difficulty navigating.
The waxwings have also expanded their diet to include a wider range of ornamental plantings of exotic fruit trees. One of these, Morrow’s honeysuckle, has become widespread in home gardens. It contains rhodoxanthin, a red carotenoid pigment. When eaten during molt it mixes with the typical yellow carotenoids to cause the tips of the tail feathers to become orange-tinted instead of showing the typical bright yellow band. The rapid eating pattern and wide variety of berries they consume can be seen in videos at the Macaulay Library.
Photo credit by Mick Thompson. References available upon request from amccormick@eastsideaudubon.org.