The Cedar Waxwing

Winter just wouldn’t seem like winter, at least to a birder, without Cedar Waxwings passing overhead with a chorus of whistling trills or perched in a tree, rapidly devouring every berry in sight.  Even nonbirders enjoy watching these colorful cold-weather visitors that display long, sleek crests; striking black-and-white masks; waxy red tips on the secondary wing feathers; blue-gray tails tipped with yellow; and brown upperparts blending with the yellow underparts.

Waxwings, like Purple Finches and Pine Siskins, are somewhat erratic visitors to Mississippi.  Some years, huge flocks turn up on Christmas bird counts and strip hundreds of ripe berries or seeds from the trees, often in the company of American Robins.  During other winters, waxwings may be few and far between.

The amounts of food Cedar Waxwings can stuff themselves with never cease to amaze me, but certainly the variety of this food is just as great.  Mistletoe, holly, cedar and hackberry are just a few of the berry-producing plants that these birds will feed on, and insects are also taken, flycatcher-fashion.  Interestingly, waxwings are sometimes seen passing berries along to adjacent birds.

In the spring, Cedar Waxwings feed on mulberries and often the petals of flowering crabapple trees.  Make note of any Cedar Waxwings you see in late May or early June; they usually depart by this time.  There are a few breeding records for Cedar Waxwings in Mississippi, so be on the lookout for any nesting behavior among these birds.  Your observations could have ornithological significance!

One enjoyable thing about the Cedar Waxwing is that whether you are watching goldfinches and sparrows arrive in the fall or warblers and grosbeaks arrive in the springtime, there will almost certainly be a few of these spectacular birds around as well, making a great birding day even more memorable. 

Cedar Waxwings in May

Sources: 

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Guide to Birds of North America, Version 3.

Birds of Mississippi.  Turcotte, William H., and David L. Watts.  University Press of Mississippi.  Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.  1999.