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Cedar Waxwing

Bombycilla cedrorumOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Waxwings (Bombycillidae)

Cedar Waxwing Portrait
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General

Cedar Waxwing: Small waxwing with red-brown upperparts, pale slate-gray rump, and buff underparts. Head is crested and has black mask. Tail is yellow-tipped with white undertail coverts. Wings have red bead-like tips on secondaries. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has smaller crest and gray-brown streaks on underparts.

Range and Habitat

Cedar Waxwing: Breeds from southeastern Alaska east to Newfoundland and south to California, Illinois, and Virginia. Spends winters from British Columbia, the Great Lakes region, and New England southward. Preferred habitats include open woodlands, orchards, and residential areas.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"zeee", "zeeet"

Interesting Facts

 Cedar Waxwings are the most specialized fruit-eating birds. Rather than regurgitating the fruit seeds, they eliminate them with their waste.

 Orange, rather than yellow, terminal bands now seen on some tails are attributed to pigments found in an alien honeysuckle fruit introduced to their diet.

 A group of waxwings are collectively known as an "ear-full" and a "museum" of waxwings.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Cedar Waxwing
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Waxwing (Bombycillidae)_blue
Species Bombycilla cedrorum
Length7 Inches
Wingspan11.625 Inches

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing: Small waxwing, red-brown upperparts, pale slate-gray rump, buff underparts. Head is crested, has black mask with narrow white band below. Yellow-tipped tail, white undertail coverts. Wings have red wax-like tips on secondaries from which it gets its name. Black bill, legs and feet.

● Song: "zeee", "zeeet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Cedar Waxwing: Diet consists mostly of insects such as carpenter ants, cicadas, caterpillars, scale insects, and cankerworms; also feeds on berries, fruits, maple sap, and flowers. Sometimes becomes intoxicated from eating fermented berries in winter.

● Breeding & nesting: Cedar Waxwing: Two to six pale blue gray eggs spotted with brown and black are laid in a bulky cup nest of twigs and grass built in a tree. Incubation ranges from 12 to 16 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Cedar Waxwing: Bohemian Waxwing is larger with dark undertail coverts, gray belly, and red, white, and yellow wing markings.

Flight Pattern

Strong rapid flight with several quick wing strokes.
Cedar Waxwing Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Cedar Waxwing: Breeds from southeastern Alaska east to Newfoundland and south to California, Illinois, and Virginia. Spends winters from British Columbia, the Great Lakes region, and New England southward. Preferred habitats include open woodlands, orchards, and residential areas.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial or solitary nester
PopulationFairly common to uncommon
MigrationMigratory
Weight1.1 Ounces