Bohemian Waxwing

The Bohemian waxwing is a starling-sized bird 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) in length with a 32–35.5 cm (12.6–14.0 in) wingspan, and an average weight of 55 g (1.9 oz). It is short-tailed, mainly brownish-grey, and has a conspicuous crest on its head. The male of the nominate subspecies has a black mask through the eye and a black throat. There is a white streak behind the bill and a white curve below the eye. The lower belly is a rich chestnut colour and there are cinnamon-coloured areas around the mask. The rump is grey and the tail ends in a bright yellow band with a broad black border above it. The wings are very distinctive; the flight feathers are black and the primaries in adults have markings that produce a yellow stripe and white "fishhooks" on the closed wing. The adult's secondaries end in long red appendages with the sealing wax appearance that gives the bird its English name. The eyes are dark brown, the bill is mainly black, and the legs are dark grey or black. In flight, the waxwing's large flocks, long wings and short tail give some resemblance to the common starling, and its flight is similarly fast and direct. It clambers easily through bushes and trees but only shuffles on the ground. In adults, the primary feathers have a bright yellow leading edge near the tip, and a white 'tick mark' on the tip of the trailing edge. …

The Bohemian waxwing has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in northern regions of Eurasia and North America. In Eurasia, its northern nesting limit is just short of the treeline, roughly at the 10 °C July isotherm, and it breeds south locally to about 51°N. Most birds breed between 60–67°N, reaching 70°N in Scandinavia. The North American subspecies breeds in the northwestern and north central areas of the continent, its range extending southwards beyond the US border in the Rocky Mountains. This waxwing is migratory with much of the breeding range abandoned as the birds move south for the winter. Migration starts in September in the north of the range, a month or so later farther south. Eurasian birds normally winter from eastern Britain through northern parts of western and central Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and northern China to Japan. North American breeders have a more southeasterly trend, many birds wintering in southeast Canada, with smaller numbers in the north central and northeastern US states. Birds do not usually return to the same wintering sites in successive years. One bird wintering in Ukraine was found 6,000 km (3,700 mi) to the east in Siberia in the following year.

In some years, this waxwing irrupts south of its normal wintering areas, sometimes in huge numbers. …

Waxwings are primarily fruit eaters in the winter, and consume insects when available, particularly during the breeding season but also on any mild days in autumn and winter. Mosquitoes and midges are the most common prey, but many other insects and some spiders are eaten. They are caught mainly by flycatching from an open perch, but some, particularly aphids, may be picked off vegetation. Fruit is normally picked from trees, sometimes from the ground, and is usually swallowed whole. In the summer, Vaccinium and Rubus species and Canada buffaloberry are important items of their diet, while cotoneaster, juniper, haws, rose hips and apples predominate outside the breeding season. Rowan berries are a favourite food, and are eaten whenever available. Waxwings can eat huge numbers of berries, each bird sometimes consuming several hundred a day, more than double its own weight. One individual was recorded as eating between 600 and 1,000 cotoneaster berries in six hours, and defecating every four minutes. Waxwings travel significant distances when feeding and help to disperse the fruit seeds. Waxwings forage in large flocks, sometimes of several hundred birds, which enables them to overwhelm birds such as mistle thrushes attempting to defend their fruit trees. Fruit is rich in sugar but deficient in other nutrients, so it must be eaten in large quantities. …