The Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) is a sleek, crested, gray bird with a chestnut face and red waxy wing tips that breeds in northern coniferous woodlands but is often encountered in large, noisy flocks in urban parks and fruiting shrubs during migration and winter.
Learn to identify
Adult female Bohemian Waxwing (nominate subspecies) feeding on the ground in Novosibirsk, Russia.
Learning lesson · openly licensed photographs, labelled by BirdBot; labels checked against the cited sources and approved by AI
Pointed crest: mainly buff-grey, with a conspicuous crest. Black mask: through the eye, with a black throat. Yellow, white and red wing: yellow stripe, white hooks, red waxy tips. Chestnut undertail: Cedar Waxwing has a white undertail. Check under the tail: chestnut, not white.
First-winter birds have fewer red tips and plainer wingtips.
Sources: Audubon Guide to North American Birds: Bohemian Waxwing · Wikipedia: Bohemian waxwing (revision 1380656700)
Photo: Tatiana Bulyonkova from Novosibirsk, Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; labels added by BirdBot.
Bohemian Waxwings are immediately recognizable by their smooth, crested appearance. The overall plumage is gray, with a face washed in chestnut. The tail features a distinct yellow band at the tip. The common name "waxwing" derives from the red, waxy tips on the secondary feathers, which are most prominent in older males.
Adult males have a larger throat patch and a broader yellow tip on the tail compared to females. Juveniles differ from adults by having more gray plumage, a whitish throat, and streaked underparts. These age-related differences are critical for accurate field identification, especially when juveniles join flocks in late summer.
The primary confusion species is the Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). While both share the waxy wing tips and general shape, the Cedar Waxwing is smaller and has a pale yellow belly. The Bohemian Waxwing is grayer overall, with a more pronounced chestnut face and less colorful wings. In the field, the size difference and the lack of a yellow belly in the Bohemian are the most reliable quick cues.
During the breeding season, Bohemian Waxwings inhabit woodlands ranging from coniferous to mixed coniferous-deciduous forests, often near lakes, streams, or swamps. They prefer areas with plentiful fruits and insects. However, their habitat use shifts dramatically with the seasons:
This nomadic behavior means they are often seen in unexpected locations, such as city parks with fruiting trees, when food resources in their preferred habitats diminish. In his 1919 field guide, Chester A. Reed noted that in winter they are found in flocks, "roving restlessly about the country, often appearing where least expected," a description that remains a useful heuristic for birders tracking these irruptive movements.
Bohemian Waxwings are highly social and rarely walk on the ground, preferring to flutter from perch to perch. They travel in flocks that typically range from 50 to 300 birds, though flocks of over 3,000 have been recorded. A unique behavior is "gift-passing," where birds pass fruit to flockmates for consumption. These specific flock size metrics and behavioral details are drawn from the Animal Diversity Web (ADW) account; independent corroboration for these exact figures is not provided in the current source set.
Courtship involves hopping toward one another and passing food or objects back and forth. Males with more red wax on their wings are preferred by females, suggesting the wax serves as a signal of age or experience. The only noted aggression is mate-guarding, where males adopt a threat posture and snap at intruders attempting to court their partner. They are not territorial otherwise, and nests are often clumped near fruiting trees.
Bohemian Waxwings are frugivorous and insectivorous. Their primary food source is sugary fruits, such as juniper (Juniperus virginiana) and mountain ash (Sorbus americana). They possess a large liver that helps convert sugar to energy and can metabolize ethanol from fermented fruit. In summer, they feed on aerial insects, particularly midges and mosquitoes. The ADW account notes that insects can make up about 37% of their diet in late spring and early summer; this specific percentage is a single-source observation and should be treated as a general indicator of seasonal dietary shift rather than a precise, independently verified metric. When preferred foods are scarce, they may feed on flowers and tree sap.
Bohemian Waxwings communicate constantly through vocalizations to maintain social cohesion. The basic social call is a trilling "zeee." Contact calls between mates are softer and higher in pitch. A disturbance call is a long descending whistle, used during nest-building and incubation. No injury or begging calls have been reported for this species.
Bohemian Waxwings breed later than most birds, with the season typically running from March/April to May/late June, coinciding with fruit ripening. The female incubates 4 to 6 pale blue-gray eggs, marked with black dots and wavy lines, for 14 to 15 days. Both parents feed the young, with males often spending more time feeding after hatching. Young fledge after 15 to 17 days and may continue to be fed by parents for up to two weeks after leaving the nest.
The Bohemian Waxwing is listed as Least Concern (LC) in the AviList v2026 checklist. While the species is not globally threatened, it faces local pressures such as collisions with windows and automobiles, and the toxic effects of pesticides. The Animal Diversity Web account notes that populations in the United States have been observed to increase due to the conservation of shrub lands, though this is a dated observation rather than a current global assessment.
To observe Bohemian Waxwings ethically, focus on fruiting woodlands or urban parks during migration and winter. Keep a respectful distance to avoid disrupting their flocking behavior or foraging. Listen for the trilling social calls, which often precede visual detection. Note the constant calling as the flock prepares to depart, a useful cue for tracking their movement. Allowing them to maintain their natural foraging behaviors in wild habitats is the best way to support their ecological role.
For a more rewarding observation, set up at a fixed point near a fruiting tree or shrub during the day. Instead of following the flock, wait for them to settle. This stationary approach allows you to watch for unique, species-specific behaviors such as gift-passing (where birds hand fruit to one another) and courtship hopping (where pairs hop toward each other to touch bills). These behaviors are often missed when birders are moving through the habitat.
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