What’s With the Waxwings?

Wax Tips on Cedar Waxwing

What’s with the Waxwings, we wonder? We’ve banded more Cedar Waxwings this summer than any previous MAPS season: 10 at Big Bald, 5 at Cowee, and 1 at Tessentee. Last year we caught one at all three sites during MAPS. This summer, these beautiful, masked bandits are abundant throughout the area, flying in flocks with their high-pitched, thin whistles, feeding voraciously on the plentiful fruits and insects the wet weather has produced. Cedar Waxwings are frugivorous, with a diet of approximately 84% fruits and berries, supplemented by insects in the summer. Population numbers of Cedar Waxwings have increased over the past 20 years, possibly a result of increased use of ornamental fruits in landscaping, more edge habitat with fruiting trees and shrubs, and the elimination of DDT. The function of the unusual waxy, red tips on the birds’ secondary wing feathers is thought perhaps to be related to mate choice, as number and size of tips increase with age. (Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/309doi:10.2173/bna.309)