Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrulus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family BOMBYCILLIDAE

Menu

1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The Bohemian Waxwing is an irregular winter visitor from the far North. It comes primarily to states and provinces along the United States/Canada border, a bit farther southward in the West.

Cool Facts

• The name "Bohemian" refers to the nomadic movements of winter flocks. It comes from the inhabitants of Bohemia, meaning those that live an unconventional lifestyle or like that of gypsies.
• The Bohemian Waxwing does not hold breeding territories, probably because the fruits it eats are abundant, but available only for short periods. One consequence of this non-territorial lifestyle is that it has no true song. It does not need one to defend a territory.

• Only three species of waxwings exist. The Bohemian and Japanese waxwings have white edges to the wing feathers, but the Cedar Waxwing does not. An unusual Cedar Waxwing was found with the ornate wing pattern, suggesting that the ancestor of all three species had a patterned wing.

Description

• Size: 16-19 cm (6-7 in)
• Wingspan: 33 cm (13 in)
• Weight: 45-69 g (1.59-2.44 ounces)

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Brownish gray overall.
• Crest on top of head.
• Black mask.
• Yellow tip to tail.
• White and yellow feather edging in wings.
• Reddish under the tail.

• Small bill.
• Gray belly.
• Black chin patch.
• May have red wax droplets on tips of secondaries.
• Small legs and feet.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, but female with smaller black chin patch and fewer, shorter waxy tips on feathers.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult, but grayer overall, with broad streaking on underparts, no black on throat or behind eye.

Similar Species

Cedar Waxwing is slightly smaller, lacks reddish under tail and white and yellow stripes on closed wing, and has a yellowish belly.

Sound

Call a high-pitched trill, rougher and lower pitched than that of Cedar Waxwing.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from Alaska eastward to northern Ontario and southward to souteastern British Columbia. Also from Scandinavia eastward to Siberia.

Winter Range

Winters from southern Alaska across southern Canada and northern United States, southward to Colorado and northeastern New York. Also in Eurasia southward to central Europe, Turkey, Iran, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan.

Habitat

Breeds in open coniferous or mixed forests, especially taiga. Winters where ever fruits are found, including gardens, parklands, and cities.

Food

Fleshy fruit and insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Flycatches for flying insects; gleans insects from vegetation. Plucks fruit while perched, or may hover briefly to snatch fruit. Swallows entire fruit.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest is a bulky open cup of twigs, grasses, and moss, camouflaged with a covering of mosses and lichens. Placed on tree branch near trunk.

Egg Description

Pale blue-gray with sparse black spots.

Clutch Size

Usually 4-5 eggs. Range: 2-6.

Condition at Hatching

Hatch naked and helpless.

Conservation Status

Populations stable or increasing.

Other Names

Jaseur boréal, Jaseur de Boheme (French)
Ampelis europeo (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Witmer, M. 2002. Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus). In The Birds of North America, No. 714 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

For more information about this species, visit Bird of the Week.