Bohemian Waxwing

The Bohemian waxwing is a starling-sized bird 19–23 cm in length with a 32–35.5 cm wingspan, and an average weight of 55 g.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 have markings that produce a

yellow stripe and white fishhooks on the closed wing. The adults secondaries end in long red appendages with the sealing wax

appearance that gives the bird its English name.

The Bohemian waxwing has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in northern regions of Eurasia and North America. In Eurasia, its northern

roughly at the 10 C July isotherm, and it breeds south locally to about 51N.Most birds breed between 60–67N, reaching 70N 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 the Ukraine was found 6,000 km to the east in Siberia in the following year.

Waxwings are not highly territorial, and, although normally solitary breeders, several pairs may nest close together where there are a

number of good nest sites.Males may sometimes deter rivals from approaching their mates, and females may squabble over nest sites.

Aggression is shown by sleeking down the feathers and crest, showing the black throat, and opening the bill. The breeding display is

almost the opposite of this the male erects his body and crest feathers, and turns his head away from the female. The male may

repeatedly present a gift of a small item, often food, to his partner, placing it in her open bill. In about 90 of cases, this display

does not lead to copulation.Older males have more red tips to the wings and are preferred by females.