Bird of the Month: Cedar Waxwing

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Read more about Mary Birdsong's "spark bird," the Cedar Waxwing, in this month's Bird of the Month column. This often elusive fruit-eating bird has curiously red, wax-like carotenoid deposits on its wings, confounding ornithologists and contributing to their allure.

The Cedar Waxwing is one of the most beautifully elegant birds in North America, in my opinion. But I could be biased because it is the bird that made me a birder.

My Cedar Waxwing came to me at Boat Launch #4 on the lagoons at Presque Isle where my then-boyfriend Mike and I were picnicking (now married 23 years). We saw birds perching that we could not identify. The next picnic we brought along my dad's old Sears & Roebuck binoculars.

I literally gasped when I finally got a good look at a perched waxwing. I didn't know I could see such a beautiful bird right where I lived. We were immediately hooked.

That first bird that captivates and leads to a nearly unquenchable curiosity for all things avian is called a "spark bird." Ask anyone who looks at birds regularly and they will relate to you their spark bird story.

The Cedar Waxwing's elegance comes from feathers that appear as smooth and as rich as velvet. Similar in size to an American Robin, both male and females sport brown on the head, neck, and throat, yellow on the lower belly, and have a back that starts brown transitioning to gray on the rump and black on the tail. Its additional field marks add the wow: A crest tops its head like a cardinal, a black "mask" with white trim covers its eyes, a broad yellow tip adorns its tail and small bright red waxy projections are at the tips of two or three wing feathers closest to the body (called the secondaries), which is where waxwings get their name. According to Cornell's Birds of the World, these red deposits come from a carotenoid pigment called astaxanthin, which they obtain from eating berries, their primary food source.

And no one really knows what the function of the tips is. It was once theorized the red tips functioned to protect feather shafts of secondaries from wear experienced during waxwing's fluttering among branches of cedar trees, but that has been debunked. Ornithologists suspect that these bright red (rarely yellow) deposits may be important status signals in mate selection.

Now, as summer fades and fall comes on, is a great time to watch for Cedar Waxwings. They nest later in the year – and are thus more active now – to take advantage of ripening fruits to feed their young, rather than the insects many other birds rely on.

If you go in search of them, may I suggest Boat Launch #4 at Presque Isle? Be sure to take binoculars. It could be the start of something exhilarating.

Mary Birdsong is the lead shorebird monitor for Erie Bird Observatory. Learn more at eriebirdobservatory.org. Mary can be reached at mbirdsong@eriereader.com