Cedar Waxwing | Berry Loving Beauties

There's no mistaking that the Cedar Waxwing is a stunningly beautiful bird. I quickly learned that if I wanted to find them, the best thing to do was to listen. If I was in their vicinity, their thin, high-pitched whistles and trills would give away their location, which was usually high up in the trees. Spotting them always filled me with excitement and delight. Being that they are highly social birds, I discovered that where there was one, others were usually close by. Their scientific name is Bombichila sidrorum, which loosely translates to silk-tailed and of the cedars. They are one of three birds in the family Bombichilidae, with the other two being the Bohemian Waxwing and the Japanese Waxwing. Both the Cedar and Bohemian Waxwings inhabit North America. However, the Bohemian Waxwing is quite widespread in the northern latitudes of North America, Europe, and Asia, while the Cedar Waxwing stays in North and Central America. Cedar Waxwings are small, sleek, and elegant. They are bigger than a sparrow, but smaller than a robin. Sometimes in cold weather, they puff up their feathers, making themselves look far more fluffy and rotund than they actually are. Their coloring and shading are positively gorgeous, like a Bob Ross painted sky. Supporting a floppy crest, their feathers are soft shades of brown and gray, giving rise to yellow on their bellies. They have a black mask around their eyes that is trimmed in white, and there is dark shading under the bill. Their backs show a similar color gradient that flows from cinnamon to brown to gray, with bright yellow on the terminal end of the tail feathers. Juveniles are mostly brown and yellow, with a streaky chest and a lighter mask. As I was researching the Waxwing's unique characteristics, I found myself falling down a rabbit hole of speculation about the purpose of the red tips on the bird's secondary flight feathers. First off, yes, those red wax tips on their wings are what gives rise to the name Waxwing. These waxy tips are the subject of much debate and question. Sometimes researching wildlife is confusing, and it only gives rise to more questions. I think that the continual curiosity and the quest to understand is all part of the fun. So on this particular issue, there is a lot of conjecture and not a whole lot of surety. I'll start with what we do know. What we know is that the red waxy tips, which are sometimes referred to as waxy appendages, are made from a waxy secretion when a new feather is growing out. It's made of a carotenoid pigment known as astaxanthin, which gives them their red coloring. We also know that the number of waxy appendages varies with age. Juvenile Waxwings don't have them, but mature birds do. In addition, the older the bird, the more appendages they have. It is also possible that the waxy tips may break off. What we don't know is what their purpose is. While researchers have tried on various theories, thrown them out, then proposed others, the bottom line is that we're just not sure. One study I read suggests that birds with more waxy appendages nest earlier and raise more young. But if nothing else, the current consensus is that the waxy tips are indicators of the bird's age and maturity, and that it may assist in attracting a mate. The finer details, however, are still fuzzy and in need of further research. While Cedar Waxwings can be found in a variety of habitats, the most important ingredient is the presence of fruiting trees or shrubs. Second to that is having close proximity to a body of water, such as a pond, stream, wetland, or the riparian area in a desert. They may also be found in open fields, orchards, or along the edge of mixed coniferous and deciduous forests, areas where there is an abundance of light. Where you won't find them is in the interior of a forest. The reason for this is that the deep woods are too shady to grow the fruiting plants that they depend on. Interestingly, they can be found in suburban areas due to the increased use of trees and shrubs that have ornamental berries. When you think of Cedar Waxwings, think of fruit. They are true frugivores, or fruit eaters. Fruit makes up the majority of their diet. In fact, in the winter, they will eat fruit exclusively for months. They eat berries such as serviceberry, strawberry, mulberry, dogwood, raspberries, mountain ash, mistletoe, madrone, juniper, honeysuckle, crabapple, hawthorn, winterberry, and Russian olive fruits. There is a wonderfully mutualistic relationship between the waxwings and these fruiting plants. The birds swallow the berries whole, allowing the seeds to pass through them, thereby dispersing the seeds far and wide for the benefit of the plant. The cedar part of the name Cedar Waxwing comes from their love of eating cedar berries in the wintertime. Sometimes, they will eat overripe berries that have fermented and turned to alcohol, leading to inebriated behavior or even death. During the warmer months of the year, they supplement their diet with protein-rich insects that they catch on the wing or pick right off of vegetation. Some of their preferred insects are mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies, ants, scale insects, spruce budworm, and beetles. They also get protein from the pollen found in catkins and flowers. In the spring, they may hang from a branch of a maple tree to feed on suspended drops of sap created by frozen water that cause small cracks to form in branches. In the 1960s, it was discovered that the cedar waxwings in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada developed orange tail tips instead of yellow after eating the berries of an introduced honeysuckle plant. The berries of the plant are red, but if eaten while the bird is growing a new tail feather, the tail tip will become orange. Courting is initiated when the male does a hopping dance in front of a female. If she is interested, she will hop back. Additionally, the male will hop towards the female bearing a gift such as a berry, flower, or insect. If interested, she will accept the gift, hop away, and then hop back, passing the item back to him. He then hops away, only to return and pass the item to her once more. They repeat this hopping and passing a dozen times or more until the female accepts and eats the gift that he brought her. Cedar waxwings are monogamous for a season. When searching for a nest location, they look for a fork on a horizontal branch about 6 to 20 feet up in a tree. Both the male and female look for a suitable nest location, but it is the female who ultimately chooses it. Similarly, both the male and female bring nest materials to the chosen site, but it is the female who does the nest construction. She weaves together twigs, grasses, cattail down, cottonwood fluff, string, or horsehair into a bulky cup and then lines the nest with softer materials. It takes five to six days to complete and about 2,500 individual trips. Sometimes to save time, they will steal nest materials from a nearby nest such as that of an eastern kingbird, robin, oriole, yellow warbler, or a yellow-throated vireo. They have one to two broods per season and lay two to six eggs per clutch. The eggs are pale blue or whitish gray with black and brown speckles. Many cedar waxwings nest later in the season, coinciding their nesting with the availability of fruiting trees. The chicks are fed mostly insects over the first few days of life, with the ratio gradually shifting to more fruit as the chicks grow. Cedar waxwings are not territorial and have been known to nest in fairly close proximity to one another. I happened to see this in the field where I located three different nests about 50 feet apart from each other. Cedar waxwings are classified as being short to long-distance migrants. However, other sources I researched refer to them as being more nomadic than migratory, moving according to the availability of fruit. Traveling in large flocks makes sense for them as more eyes are available to locate food. Because they move so irregularly, their breeding area may be as far north as northern Canada, and their wintering area may be as far south as Costa Rica and Panama. However, this is always subject to change due to the availability of fruiting crops in a given year. The challenge of finding these berry-loving beauties in the field keeps me hooked, intrigued, and excited to learn more about their lives. Do you have the cedar waxwing in your area? What was the most interesting thing that stood out to you in this video? Let me know in the comment section below. Thank you so much for watching, and keep on birding!