The hard, wax-like red tips on some of its wing feathers give this beautiful bird its name. It is a very social bird, found in large flocks for much of the year. Since its chicks are fed mostly on fruit, this bird nests later in the season when when there is a greater supply of ripe fruits and berries. Cedar Waxwings have an interesting habit of lining up in a long row along a branch, and passing a berry or flower from bird to bird down the row, until one eats it.

Species Description:
Length: 14.6 to 18.4 cm
Physical characteristics: A striking crested bird, with brown upperwings, head and crest; a black eye patch surrounded by white; grayish wings marked with a red bar and a black tail that ends in a yellow tip. The undertail coverts are white. Female is similar to the male, but with slightly less black on the chin. Both have the red tips on their flight feathers, a feature absent in young birds.
Voice: Song is a soft and high-pitched series of sreee notes.

Breeding habitat:
This bird occurs in open woods or woodland edges, preferring coniferous trees, often near a stream or other water source.

Mating system:
Monogamous, with one brood (occasionally two) produced per season. An individual will usually select a mate of similar age.

Nest:
The nest is a cup shape, built by both the male and female (although the female does most of the construction) in varying locations in a tree, of twigs, grass and moss, lined with finer grass, pine needles and hair. Often Cedar Waxwings will use building materials from old nests to assemble new ones. They may occasionally nest in colonies.

Eggs:
3 - 5 bluish-gray eggs, marked with blacks and browns, are laid in a clutch. 22mm (0.8'').

Chick development:
Incubation lasts from 10 to 16 days, after which the chicks are born altricial. It is not known if the male assists with incubation. Both parents do feed the nestlings. The young fledge anywhere from 14 to 18 days after hatching.

Diet:
Berries, flowers and tree sap make up the bulk of an adult Cedar Waxwing?s diet. Insects are taken primarily in the summer, usually when a large number of insects are occurring. The young are fed insects initially, but are soon switched over to berries.

Parasites:
An undescribed feather mites from the genus Pterodectes (Proctophyllodidae) and the mite Proctophyllodes glanderinus (Koch) (Proctophyllodidae) were collected from waxwings caught at Purchase Knob (both species) and Cades Cove, Tennessee, and Oconaluftee, North Carolina (the latter species) (Reeves et al. 2007). The louse fly Ornithomyia anchineuria Speiser (Hippoboscidae) was collected from a waxwing at Purchase Knob, North Carolina (Reeves et al. 2007).

Conservation Biology:
This species is not considered threatened or endangered. In fact, in some areas of the United States the population has increased. It is believed that the new growth on land previously cleared for agriculture contains many berry-producing shrubs and trees that provide a food source. Also the discontinued use of DDT has resulted in less birds being poisoned. The Cedar Waxwing was vulnerable to this poison because of its habit of feeding on insects that occurred in large populations - those that would have been the targets of applications of DDT.

It is an uncommon cowbird host; rejecting these eggs by abandoning the nest, or removing or damaging the cowbird eggs.

Breeding: The Cedar Waxwing breeding range includes the entire southern half of Canada, and south throughout most of the northern half of the United States. In the mountains in the East their range extends as far south as northern Georgia.

Winter: Migrating or wintering Cedar Waxwings may form large flocks. They winter throughout the United States, south to Costa Rica and central Panama.

The Cedar Waxwing is a fairly common to common breeding bird species in the Park. This species can be seen throughout the park, but is most likely to be seen in open areas. Because of its preference for coniferous trees, a good place to look for Cedar Waxwings in the park is in Spruce Fir forests along the Appalachian Trail.

A survey of breeding birds in the Park, performed from 1996-1999, ranked Cedar Waxwing as the 48th most common species out of 113 species observed during the breeding season. Estimates from this survey indicate that overall Cedar Waxwing density in the park during the breeding season is approximately 0.057 pairs/hectare. However, please note that this species tends to breed later in the season than other birds, so the results of this survey may be biased low for this species. Also, Cedar Waxwing populations tend to vary from year to year.

References:

Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. Cedar Waxwing, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Ehrlich, P. R, D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C, J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.

Reeves, W. K., L. A. Durden, C. M. Ritzi, K. R. Beckham, P. E. Super, and B. M. O?Connor. 2007. Ectoparasites and other ectosymbiotic arthropods of vertebrates in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Zootaxa.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed