Cedar Waxwing

Bombycilla cedrorumOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Waxwings (Bombycillidae)

Codes: Common Name: CEDW Scientific Name: BOMCED ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178532

Breeding Location:

Forest edge

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial or solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Fairly common to uncommon

Egg Color:

Pale blue gray with black and brown spots

Number of Eggs:

2 - 6

Incubation Days:

12 - 16

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Sticks, mosses, and grass.

Migration:

Migratory

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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and 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.

Readily Eats

Apple Slices, Currants, Canned Peas

Vocalization

Cedar Waxwing: Call is a thin, high-pitched warbled "zeee" or "zeeet."

Similar Species

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

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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.

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.

● 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

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Undertail coverts

Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Crest

Tufts of feathers on the head of the bird.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

Secondaries

Flight feathers that are attached to the wing in the area similar to the human forearm and between the body and the primaries.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Cedar Waxwing

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Nest Material:

Migration:

Recommended Products:

General

Range and Habitat

Breeding and Nesting

Foraging and Feeding

Readily Eats

Vocalization

Similar Species

Cedar Waxwing

Flight Pattern