Cedar Waxwing

Adult Cedar Waxwing in late summer plumage, Ithaca, NY, 14 Aug 2005. Note the red-tipped secondaries shown by breeding plumage adults.

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Cedar Waxwing nest

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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 Cedar Waxwing is one of the most frugivorous birds in North America. Many aspects of its life, from its nomadic habits to its late breeding season, may be traced to its dependence upon fruit.

Cool Facts

• The name "waxwing" comes from the waxy red appendages found in variable numbers on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may serve a signaling function in mate selection.

• Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada beginning in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange.

• The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few temperate dwelling birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Unlike many birds that regurgitate seeds from fruit they eat, the Cedar Waxwing defecates fruit seeds.

• The Cedar Waxwing is vulnerable to alcohol intoxication and death after eating fermented fruit.

Description

• Size: 14-17 cm (6-7 in)
• Wingspan: 22-30 cm (9-12 in)
• Weight: 32 g (1.13 ounces)

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Gray-brown overall.
• Crest on top of head.
• Black mask edged in white.
• Yellow tip to tail; may be orange.

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

Sex Differences

Sexes nearly alike.

Male

Chin patch on male more extensive and darker than on female.

Immature

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

Similar Species

• Bohemian Waxwing is slightly larger, has reddish under tail, gray belly, and white and yellow stripes on closed wing.

Sound

Calls are very high pitched "bzeee" notes.

Range

Range Map

© 2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Breeds from British Columbia across Canada, southward to northern California, northern Arkansas, and northern Georgia.

Winter Range

Winters from very southern Canada southward through United States and Mexico into Central America. Numbers vary in each location from year to year.

Habitat

• Breeds in open woodland, old fields with shrubs and small trees, riparian areas, farms, and suburban gardens.
• Winters in areas with fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, especially open woodlands, parks, gardens, and forest edges.

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, moss, and other materials placed in a fork of a tree branch.

Egg Description

Pale blue gray with sparse black spots.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Hatch naked and helpless.

Conservation Status

Populations increasing throughout range. You can help scientists learn more about this species by participating in the Celebrate Urban Birds! project.

Other Names

Jaseur d' Amérique (French)
Ampelis Americano, Picotera, Chinito (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Witmer, M. C., D. J., Mountjoy, and L. Elliot. 1997. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). In The Birds of North America, No. 309 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.