Bohemian Waxwing: a Gypsy Bird

A waxwing is any of three species (genus Bombycilla, family Bombycillidae) of shiny, beautifully colored songbirds. The Bohemian waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) has many fascinating characteristics, one of which is its unusual gypsylike nomadic movements.

Etymology
The name waxwing comes from the waxy red deposits at the tips of the bird's secondary wing feathers. Bohemian refers to the bird's extensive and irregular wanderings, like a gypsy, or Bohemian.

The genus and family names are based on Latin bombyx ("silk") because of the bird's silky, shiny plumage.

Physical Description
The Bohemian waxwing ranges from 6.3 to 7.5 inches in length and from 1.6 to 2.4 ounces in weight. Its wingspan is about 13 inches.

It has a grayish brown body, a tapering reddish chestnut crest, a black streak or mask around the eyes, a yellow-tipped tail, and a colorful pattern in the mostly brown wings, including white and yellow patches ending with the red waxy deposits at the tips of the secondary feathers.

Behavior
Bohemian waxwings inhabit the northern part of the United States and Canada. They breed mainly in open forest areas.

Rather than undertake a typical winter migration based on temperature or latitude like other birds, Bohemian waxwings wander wherever they can find food., including private gardens, parklands, and cities.

Their primary diet is fruit. In the winter, they eat almost nothing but fruit, including the berries of mountain ash, juniper, and holly. They also raid farm fruit crops and, in cities, ornamental plantings. In the summer, they supplement their fruit diet by catching flying insects and by picking insects from vegetation.

Bohemian waxwings are monogamous. Both the male and the female help build the next, which is usually located on a horizontal branch near the trunk of a spruce tree. The cup-shaped nest is made of grass, twigs, and moss, lined with fine grass and feathers. It is usually camouflaged with a covering of lichens and mosses.

The female lays 2-6 eggs, which are pale blue with black spots. Incubation takes 14-15 days. Both parents feed the young, which leave the nest after 14-18 days.

Fascinating Facts
Like cedar waxwings, which are also heavy fruit eaters, Bohemian waxwings are susceptible to intoxication and even death from eating overripe, fermented fruit.

Bohemian waxwings are named for their winter wanderings in search of food. Because most fruit crops are available only for short periods, the birds must move on every time they finish off a local crop.

Therefore, Bohemian waxwings, unlike most other birds, do not develop breeding territories that they feel they must defend. Consequently, unlike most songbirds, which use distinctive songs to mark their territories, Bohemian waxwings have not developed a territorial song. Their "song" is just a high-pitched trill.
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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bohemian_Waxwing/lifehistory (accessed Sept. 24, 2009).

Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004 (CD-ROM).

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.