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Cedar Waxwing

Status Common in summer, rare and irregular in winter. Breeds. It generally appears in late May (average 28 May, earliest 10 May), so regularly that several flocks in April and early May 1983 stand out as unusual. "Waves" of small flocks (25-50 birds) occur in early June. Fall movements take place from mid-August to late September, when larger flocks of 100 or more are sometimes present. Last sightings are generally in October or November, but it is normal to sight one or two on Christmas Bird Counts around the province. Individuals or nomadic flocks have occurred later in winter during seven winters since 1960.

Description Length: 17-19 cm. Adults: Back, breast and part of crested head rich cinnamon-brown; forehead, chin and line through eye jet black; wings grayish brown; tail gray, broadly tipped with yellow; end of secondaries often, tail rarely, tipped with small sealing wax-like red beads; belly and flanks washed with pale yellow; undertail coverts white.

Breeding Nest: Bulky and loosely constructed of twigs, coarse grass, string, beard lichen when immediately available, and other soft materials, with a lining of soft grass, wool from a sheep or bits of fur; I have never noticed feathers. It is saddled on the horizontal limb, usually of a deciduous tree, but occasionally in a conifer. Nests are located in gardens and orchards or in areas remote from human habitation; proximity of food probably exerts a powerful influence in this regard. Eggs: 4-5; pale bluish gray, spotted sparsely but uniformly with black. Nesting is irregular, ranging from June to August. On 4 June 1919 a nest was found under construction in Wolfville. On 28 June 1915, two nests, one containing four and the other containing five fresh eggs, were found; and on the same date in 1916 another nest contained four fresh eggs. All were in elms at heights of 3-6 m. A late nest at Port Mouton, Queens County, located on the low branch of an apple tree on 28 July 1945, contained five fresh eggs. At Albany, Annapolis County, a nest on the low limb of a large hemlock contained four fresh eggs on 4 July 1932; it was constructed almost entirely of beard lichen, which was abundant in the neighbourhood, as were blueberries.

Range Breeds across southern Canada from central British Columbia, Lake Athabaska, central Manitoba, northern Ontario, Newfoundland and the Maritimes, south to the southern United States. Winters from extreme southern Canada southward.

Remarks Except during the short periods when they are nesting, these birds travel over the countryside in small flocks, making brief and unexpected visits to our orchard or shade trees.

The items on its menu range from small caterpillars to apple blossom petals. In late summer much small fruit is devoured, wild varieties such as chokecherries and blueberries being highly favoured. In some localities it is called the "cherry-bird" because of its liking for cultivated fruit.

It shows a preference for cedars where these trees thrive in its range. The name Waxwing is derived from the red sealing wax-like beads that appear on the tips of certain wing feathers of both the male and female. It has not been established why this mark of adornment is worn by some individuals and not by others. It is not acquired with age because it sometimes appears on the wings of young birds. Sometimes, but rarely, it appears on the ends of the tail feathers as well.

It produces a high-pitched sibilant note, difficult to describe, which is heard as often when the bird is in flight as when it is perched.

The only species with which this sleek, well-groomed bird might be confused is the Bohemian Waxwing. That bird is larger, the ends of its inner primaries are boldly tipped with yellowish white and its undertail coverts are bright chestnut-rufous, very different from the white undertail coverts of the Cedar Waxwing.