Bombycilla cedrorum
The Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) is a strikingly elegant passerine bird, renowned for its sleek, crested appearance and unique waxy red wingtip adornments. Measuring approximately 6-7 inches (15-18 cm) in length with a wingspan of 9-12 inches (23-30 cm) and weighing around 1.1 ounces (32 grams), its plumage is a soft, velvety fawn-brown on the head and breast, transitioning to a pale yellow belly and gray back. Key identification features include a distinctive black mask bordered by a ...
Found in open woodlands, forest edges, orchards, and suburban gardens, often near water. Prefers areas with abundant fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, typically at low to mid-elevations.
Primarily frugivorous, feeding on a wide variety of berries and fruits year-round, supplemented with insects during the breeding season. Forages by plucking fruit from plants or hawking insects in flight.
Cedar Waxwings are highly social, diurnal birds, often seen in large, cohesive flocks outside the breeding season, roosting communally. Their foraging strategy is agile and opportunistic; they pluck berries directly from branches, glean insects from foliage, and skillfully hawk insects in mid-air...
The Cedar Waxwing exhibits a wide distribution across North America, breeding extensively across southern Canada and much of the northern and central United States. Their breeding range extends from coast to coast, reaching as far north as central Alaska and the southern Yukon, and south to north...
Least Concern
- The 'waxy' red tips on their secondary feathers are unique secretions, often absent in younger birds and varying in prominence with age and diet. - Cedar Waxwings are known to become temporarily intoxicated (or 'drunk') after consuming overripe, fermented berries, sometimes falling from branche...