Birdpass
English
Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrulus

Identify the Bohemian Waxwing by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The Bohemian Waxwing is a starling-sized songbird of the northern forests of Eurasia and North America, instantly recognisable by its silky pinkish-grey plumage, black mask and pointed crest, with red, wax-like tips on the wing feathers. It breeds in open coniferous forest and is nomadic and irruptive, following berry crops; in poor berry years huge flocks travel far south. Often remarkably tame in winter, it visits towns and gardens.

Did you know?

  • Waxwings can metabolise alcohol from fermenting berries, but sometimes still become intoxicated.
  • The name comes from the red, sealing-wax-like tips on its wing feathers.

Voice

Flight call

About the species

Identification

A plump, starling-sized bird with an obvious crest and pinkish-grey-brown plumage, paler below. The throat is black, the tail tip has a yellow band, and the wings show bold black, yellow, white and red markings. The ringing “sirrr” call is heard from flying flocks, and the flight is gently undulating.

Family

Bombycillidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

brown, grey, black, yellow, red

About the habitat

Breeds in fairly open coniferous forest and forest edges, often near bogs or water; outside the breeding season anywhere with berries and some trees, including towns, gardens, roadsides and farmland.

Diet

Insects in summer; berries for most of autumn, winter and spring, especially rowan, as well as crowberry, juniper, rose hips, apples and other fruit.

Behaviour

Moves in tight, often approachable flocks and wanders widely to track fruit crops. The flight is fast and slightly undulating, and flocks give clear, ringing trills, “sirrr”. It breeds late; the nest is a lined cup in a conifer, the female incubates, and both parents feed the young.

Sources

Photo: Estormiz, CC0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bombycilla Garrulus Tuira Oulu 20250309 05.jpg

Sound: Bushman, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bombycilla_garrulus_-_Bohemian_Waxwing_XC132884.ogg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_waxwing

See also