Cedar Waxwing
Bombycilla
cedrorum
Description
6 1/2-8" (17-20 cm). Smaller than a
robin. A sleek, crested, brown bird with black mask, yellow tips on
tail feathers, and hard red wax-like tips on secondary wing
feathers. Almost always seen in flocks.
Voice
A thin lisp, tseee.
Habitat
Open woodlands, orchards, and residential
areas.
Nesting
4-6 blue-gray eggs, spotted with dark
brown and black, in a bulky cup of twigs and grass placed in a tree
in the open.
Range
Breeds from southeastern Alaska east to
Newfoundland and south to California, Illinois, and Virginia.
Winters from British Columbia, Great Lakes region, and New England
southward.
Discussion
Waxwings spend most of the year in
flocks whose movements may be quite erratic. Hundreds will suddenly
appear in an area to exploit a crop of berries, only to vanish when
that crop is exhausted. Since the young are fed to some extent on
small fruits, waxwings tend to nest late in the summer when there is
a good supply of berries. Adults store food for the young in the
crop, a pouch located in the throat, and may regurgitate as many as
30 choke cherries, one at a time, into the gaping mouths of the
nestlings. In summer insects are also taken, the birds hawking for
them like flycatchers. These social birds have the amusing habit of
passing berries or even apple blossoms from one bird to the next
down a long row sitting on a branch, until one bird eats the
food.
