The Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) is a sleek, medium-sized bird known for its elegant plumage, social behavior, and specialized diet. Its name, derived from its fondness for cedar berries and the waxy red tips on its wing feathers, hints at the unique aspects of this species. This article delves into the fascinating world of the Cedar Waxwing, exploring its habitat, diet, nesting habits, and social dynamics.
Identification and Appearance
Cedar Waxwings are characterized by their silky, shiny collection of brown, gray, and lemon-yellow feathers. Adults have a pale yellow belly. These birds measure approximately 6-7 inches (15-18 cm) long with a wingspan ranging from 8.7 to 11.8 inches (22 to 30 cm), and weigh around 30 g (1 oz). Key identifying features include:
- Coloration: Predominantly brown and gray with a yellow wash on the belly and a distinctive yellow band at the tip of the tail.
- Crest: A subdued crest that often lies flat and droops over the back of the head.
- Mask: A rakish black mask across the eyes with a thin white border.
- Waxy Wingtips: Small, red, wax-like droplets on the tips of the secondary flight feathers, a feature shared with the Bohemian Waxwing. These droplets are an accumulation of the organic pigment astaxanthin.
- Tail: A somewhat short and square-tipped tail that is typically yellow or orange, depending on diet. Birds that have fed on berries of introduced Eurasian honeysuckles while growing tail feathers will have darker orange-tipped tail feathers.
Juveniles are often streaked on the throat and flanks and may lack the black mask of the adults.
Habitat and Distribution
Cedar Waxwings are native to North and Central America. They breed in open wooded areas in southern Canada and winter in the southern half of the United States, Central America, and the far northwest of South America. This species is nomadic, moving about irregularly depending on food supplies, which means both breeding and wintering areas may change from year to year.
Their habitat preferences include:
Read also: Guide to Healthy Eating in Cedar Park
- Open woodlands, fruiting trees, and orchards.
- "Edge" situations such as forest edges, streamsides, overgrown fields, edges of swamps, and suburban yards.
- In winter, any wooded or semi-open area where berries are abundant.
They are often found in areas with large trees bordering streams, ponds, and lakes. The spread of ornamental berry trees in landscaping has made them increasingly common in towns and suburbs. In winter, they are most abundant around fruiting plants in open woodlands, parks, gardens, forest edges, and second-growth forests. Birds that winter in the tropics tend to inhabit highlands.
Diet and Feeding Behavior
The Cedar Waxwing's diet is primarily composed of fruits, making up the majority of their annual food intake. They are highly specialized frugivores, exhibiting almost full reliance on sugary fruits. This is unlike other fruit-eating passerines that exhibit only opportunistic frugivory when other food sources are in poor supply. Their efficient digestion of fruits containing simple sugars allows them to thrive on fruit alone.
Key food sources include:
- Berries: A wide variety of berries such as cedar berries, juniper, dogwood, wild cherries, serviceberry, mulberry, raspberries, mistletoe, madrone, mountain ash, honeysuckle, crabapple, and hawthorn.
- Insects: Especially during the summer breeding season, they consume mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies, scale insects, spruce budworm, leaf beetles, caterpillars, and ants.
- Other: They also eat some flowers and will drink oozing sap.
Cedar Waxwings typically forage in flocks, except when nesting. They may hover briefly while plucking berries or fly out to catch insects in mid-air. They pluck fruits one by one and swallow them whole.
Nesting and Reproduction
Cedar Waxwings breed later in the year than other songbirds, typically beginning in mid-summer, to coincide with the availability of ripening fruits.
Read also: Healthy Restaurants Guide
Key aspects of their nesting behavior include:
- Courtship: In courtship, two birds may perch close together, posturing, touching bills, and passing food items back and forth. The male will do a "hopping dance" for the female, and if she is interested, she'll hop back. During courtship, the male and female will sit together and pass small objects back and forth, such as flower petals or an insect. Mating pairs will sometimes rub their beaks together.
- Nest Site: Pairs look for nest sites together, but the female makes the final decision. Nests are placed in trees, on horizontal limbs or in forks, usually 6-20 feet above the ground but can be lower or much higher (up to 50'). Many tree species are used, including maples, pines, red cedar, white cedar, apple, pear, hawthorn, and bur oak. Sometimes waxwings put their nests in vertical forks, vine tangles, or resting on a single horizontal branch.
- Nest Construction: The nest, built by both sexes but primarily by the female, is a rather loosely built open cup of grass, weeds, twigs, and plant fibers, lined with finer materials such as moss, rootlets, fine grass, and hair. The female weaves twigs, grasses, cattail down, blossoms, string, horsehair, and similar materials into a bulky cup about 5 inches across and 3 inches high. She lines this cup with fine roots, grasses, and pine needles and may decorate the outside with fruiting grasses or oak and hickory catkins. Construction takes 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2,500 individual trips to the nest. Waxwings occasionally save time by taking nest materials from other birds’ nests, including Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, orioles, robins, and Yellow Warblers.
- Eggs and Incubation: They lay 3-5, rarely 2-6, pale gray to bluish-gray eggs, finely spotted with brown and black. The eggs are oval-shaped with a smooth surface and very little, if any, gloss. The eggshells are of various shades of light or bluish grey with irregular, dark brown spots or greyish-brown splotches. Incubation is probably by the female only, averaging about 12-13 days.
- Nestlings: Both parents feed nestlings. Young leave the nest about 14-18 days after hatching. Nestlings are fed mostly insects at first, then more berries after a few days.
- Broods: They typically have 2 broods per year.
Social Behavior
Cedar Waxwings are highly social birds, known for their nomadic movements and flocking behavior. They are sociable at all seasons, and it is rare to see just one waxwing. Outside the breeding season, Cedar Waxwings often feed in large flocks numbering hundreds of birds.
Key aspects of their social behavior include:
- Flocking: Except when nesting, they almost always forage in flocks. These flocks can be quite large, sometimes numbering in the hundreds.
- Non-Territorial: They are non-territorial, showing up where food sources are most abundant and then moving on.
- Berry Passing: Occasionally, a line of waxwings perched on a branch will pass a berry back and forth, from bill to bill, until one of them swallows it.
- Grooming: They will often groom each other.
Conservation Status
According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, Cedar Waxwing populations were stable between 1966 and 2019, and in some areas showed increases. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 64 million and rates them 6 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, indicating a species of low conservation concern.
The increases in Cedar Waxwing populations are probably in part because of the reversion of fields to shrublands and forests and the use of berry trees such as mountain ash in landscaping.
Read also: Comprehensive Guide to Weight Loss in Cedar Rapids, IA
Threats and Challenges
Despite their stable population, Cedar Waxwings face certain threats:
- Habitat Loss: While they adapt well to suburban environments, loss of natural habitats can still impact their populations.
- Window Collisions: "Drunken" waxwings are more prone to collisions with windows.
- Cat Predation: "Drunken" waxwings are more prone to cat predation.
- Pesticide Use: Insecticides can reduce the availability of insects, especially during the breeding season when insects are a crucial part of the diet for young nestlings.
Attracting Cedar Waxwings
To attract Cedar Waxwings to your yard, consider the following:
- Plant Native Trees and Shrubs: Choose species that bear small fruits, such as dogwood, serviceberry, cedar, juniper, hawthorn, and winterberry.
- Provide Water: Waxwings are attracted to the sound of running water and like to bathe in and drink from shallow creeks. Consider adding a birdbath or fountain to your yard.
- Avoid Pesticides: Reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides to ensure a healthy supply of insects for the birds.