Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing
During the breeding season, Bohemian Waxwings tend to nest in colonies in the coniferous forests of western Canada and Alaska. Young birds associate with their parents through their first fall and winter. In early summer, when berries are scarce and the nestlings are being fed, Bohemian Waxwings feed on insects. They are skillful fly catchers and have even been noted to capture such evasive prey as dragonflies. Once berries ripen, however, the primary food for the rest of the year is fruit. During winter, the fruits of junipers and mountain ash are especially favored, and large flocks may be attracted to these and other fruiting trees in cities. Bohemian Waxwings withstand very cold temperatures, and they appear to head south only in response to depleted food sources.

Bohemian Waxwings are highly gregarious, and outside of the breeding season, they are nearly always found in flocks. Flocks, which can number into the thousands, keep up a constant twittering. The call is coarser and somewhat lower pitched than that of Cedar Waxwings. Wandering flocks of Bohemian Waxwings may sometimes mix with flocks of other fruit-eating birds, such as American Robins and Cedar Waxwings.

The largest of the world's three species of waxwings occurs in northern Eurasia as well as in North America. During winter, flocks travel south in search of berries. In North America, their nomadic wanderings occasionally take them as far east as New England and, more regularly, into the Rocky Mountain states as far south as Colorado.
Bohemian Waxwing Range Map

Description: Like the Cedar Waxwing, Bohemian Waxwings are elegant crested birds clad in soft, muted colors. The back, rump, upper tail, breast, and belly are gray. The crest, nape, and sides of the head are warm brown. Undertail coverts are chestnut. They have short, thick bills and a broad gape. The legs are short and dark. The eye is hidden in a narrow black mask extending from the bill to a point behind the eye; the mask is underlined in white. A black throat patch ends sharply above the gray breast. Both waxwings have a black tail with a yellow terminal band, and red waxy appendages on the secondary feathers of the wing.

The Bohemian Waxwing is larger with gray on its back, breast, and belly, whereas the Cedar Waxwing is buffy brown on its back and upper breast, with the brown fading to pale yellow at the belly. The wings of the Bohemian Waxwing are more colorful than those of the Cedar Waxwing; rather than gray-brown, they are black, with a white wing bar at the base of the primary feathers and yellow and white spots on the margins of the primaries. The undertail coverts of the Bohemian Waxwing are chestnut rather than the yellow of the Cedar Waxwing.

Juveniles display the wing markings, tail band, and chestnut undertail coverts of the adult, but they are streaked on the breast and belly. The body color is duller and darker than the adult and lacks the brownish head color of the adult. The crest is not as well developed, and there is just a suggestion of the adult's black mask. The throat is white. The juvenal plumage is molted by the first winter.