View source for Waxwing

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{About|the bird genus}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Waxwings
| image = Cedar Wax Wing.jpg
| image_caption = [[Bohemian waxwing]] (''Bombycilla garrulus'')
| parent_authority = [[William John Swainson|Swainson]], 1831
| taxon = Bombycilla
| authority = [[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1808
| display_parents = 2
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = *''[[Bohemian waxwing|B. garrulus]]''
*''[[Japanese waxwing|B. japonica]]''
*''[[Cedar waxwing|B. cedrorum]]''
| type_species = ''[[Bombycilla cedrorum ]]''
}}
The '''waxwings''' are three species of [[passerine]] [[bird]]s classified in the [[genus]] '''''Bombycilla'''''. They are pinkish-brown and pale grey with distinctive smooth plumage in which many body feathers are not individually visible, a black and white eyestripe, a crest, a square-cut tail and pointed wings. Some of the wing feathers have red tips, the resemblance of which to [[sealing wax]] gives these birds their common name.  According to most authorities, this is the only genus placed in the family '''Bombycillidae''', although sometimes the family is extended to include related taxa that are more usually included in separate families: silky flycatchers ([[Ptiliogonatidae]] (e.g. ''[[Phainoptila]]'')), ''Hypocolius'' ([[Hypocoliidae]]), ''Hylocitrea'' ([[Hylocitreidae]]), palmchats ([[Dulidae]]) and the Hawaiian honeyeaters ([[Mohoidae]]). There are three species: the [[Bohemian waxwing]] (''B. garrulus''), the [[Japanese waxwing]] (''B. japonica'') and the [[cedar waxwing]] (''B. cedrorum'').
Waxwings are not long-distance migrants, but move nomadically outside the breeding season. Waxwings mostly feed on fruit, but at times of year when fruits are unavailable they feed on sap, buds, flowers and insects. They catch insects by gleaning through foliage or in mid-air. They often nest near water, the female building a loose nest at the fork of a branch, well away from the trunk of the tree. She also incubates the eggs, the male bringing her food to the nest, and both sexes help rear the young. Waxwings appear in art and have been mentioned in literature.
== Etymology ==
''Bombycilla'', the genus name, is [[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]]'s attempt at [[Latin]] for "silktail", translating the German name ''Seidenschwänze''. Vieillot analyzed ''motacilla'', Latin for [[wagtail]], as ''mota'' for "move" and ''cilla'', which he thought meant "tail"; however, ''Motacilla'' actually combines ''motacis'', a mover, with the [[diminutive]] suffix ''-illa''. He then combined this "''cilla"'' with the Latin ''bombyx'', meaning silk.<ref name="holloway" />
==Description==
Waxwings are characterised by soft silky plumage. They have unique red tips to some of the wing feathers where the shafts extend beyond the barbs; in the [[Bohemian waxwing|Bohemian]] and [[cedar waxwing]]s, these tips look like sealing wax, and give the group its common name.<ref name=holloway>{{cite book | last = Holloway | first = Joel Ellis | year = 2003 | title = Dictionary of Birds of the United States: Scientific and Common Names | publisher = Timber Press | page = 39 | isbn = 0-88192-600-0 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=O07_W9NF39MC&pg=PA39 | access-date = 2009-04-29}}</ref> The legs are short and strong, and the wings are pointed. The male and female have the same plumage. All three species have mainly brown plumage, a black line through the eye and black under the chin, a square-ended tail with a red or yellow tip, and a pointed crest. The bill, eyes, and feet are dark. The adults moult between August and November, but may suspend their moult and continue after migration.<ref>RSPB Handbook of British Birds (2014). {{ISBN|978-1-4729-0647-2}}.</ref> Calls are high-pitched, buzzing or trilling monosyllables.<ref name=":0">{{cite book | last = MacKinnon | first = John | author2 = Phillipps, Karen | year = 2000 | title = A Field Guide to the Birds of China | publisher = Oxford University Press, USA | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetobird00john/page/286 286–287] | isbn = 0-19-854940-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetobird00john/page/286 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Sibley | first = David Allen | author-link = David Allen Sibley | year = 2000 | title = The Sibley Guide to Birds | publisher = Alfred Knopf | pages = [https://archive.org/details/sibleyguidetobir00sibl_0/page/423 423] | isbn = 0-679-45122-6 | url = https://archive.org/details/sibleyguidetobir00sibl_0/page/423 }}</ref>
==Behavior==
=== Diet ===
These are arboreal birds that breed in northern forests.<ref name=":1" /> Their main food is fruit, which they eat from early summer ([[Fragaria|strawberries]], [[mulberry|mulberries]], and [[Amelanchier|serviceberries]]) through late summer and fall ([[raspberry|raspberries]], [[blackberry|blackberries]], [[cherry|cherries]], and [[honeysuckle]] berries) into late fall and winter ([[juniper]] berries, [[grape]]s, [[crabapple]]s, [[rowan|mountain-ash]] fruits, [[rose]] hips, [[cotoneaster]] fruits, [[dogwood]] berries, and [[mistletoe]] berries).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> They pluck fruit from a perch or occasionally while hovering. In spring they replace fruit with sap, buds, and flowers. In the warmer part of the year they catch many insects by [[gleaning (birds)|gleaning]] or [[hawking (birds)|in midair]], and often nest near water where flying insects are abundant.<ref name=":1">{{cite book | last = Witmer | first = Mark | author2 = Avery, Mark | year = 2003 | chapter = Waxwings and Silky Flycatchers | editor = Perrins, Christopher | editor-link = Chris Perrins | title = The Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds | publisher = Firefly Books | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/518 518–519] | isbn = 1-55297-777-3 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/518 }}</ref>
=== Reproduction ===
Waxwings also choose nest sites in places with rich supplies of fruit and breed late in the year to take advantage of summer ripening. However, they may start courting as early as the winter. Pairing includes a ritual in which mates pass a fruit or small inedible object back and forth several times until one eats it (if it is a fruit).  After this they may copulate. Many pairs may nest close together in places with good food supplies, and a pair does not defend a territory—perhaps the reason waxwings have no true [[bird song|song]]—but a bird may attack intruders, perhaps to guard its mate.  Both birds gather nest materials, but the female does most of the construction, usually on a horizontal limb or in a crotch well away from the tree trunk, at any height. She makes a loose, bulky nest of twigs, grass, and [[lichen]], which she lines with fine grass, moss, and [[pine]] needles and may camouflage with dangling pieces of grass, flowers, lichen, and moss. The female incubates, fed by the male on the nest, but once the eggs hatch, both birds feed the young.<ref name=":1" />
<gallery>
File:Cedar waxwing Courtship.jpg|Cedar waxwing pair passing a berry back and forth during courtship
File:Cedar Waxwing nest and eggs (14723635678).jpg|Cedar waxwing nest and eggs
</gallery>
=== Migration ===
They are not true long-distance [[bird migration|migrants]], but wander erratically outside the breeding season and move south from their summer range in winter. In poor berry years huge numbers can irrupt well beyond their normal range, often in flocks that on occasion number in the thousands.<ref name=":1" /> A flock arrived in rural Derbyshire, England during January 2024, feeding on berries.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-67935287 Hassop: Hundreds of 'exquisite' waxwings in the Peak District] ''[[BBC News]]'' , 11 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024</ref>
==Taxonomy==
Some authorities (including the Sibley-Monroe checklist) place some other genera in the family Bombycillidae along with the waxwings.  Birds that are sometimes classified in this way include the [[silky-flycatcher]]s, the [[hypocolius]], and the [[palm chat]]. Recent molecular analyses have corroborated their affinity and identified them as a [[clade]], identifying the [[yellow-flanked whistler]] as another member.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Spellman | first1 = G.A. | year = 2008 | title = Clarifying the systematics of an enigmatic avian lineage: What is a bombycillid? | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |  volume = 49 | issue = 3 | pages = 691–1044 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2008.09.006 | pmid = 18824237 | last2 = Cibois | first2 = A | last3 = Moyle | first3 = RG | last4 = Winker | first4 = K | last5 = Keith Barker | first5 = F | pmc = 2627281| bibcode = 2008MolPE..49.1036S |display-authors=etal}}</ref>
==Species==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Name!! Distribution
|-
|[[File:Waxwing DTAB.jpg|130px]]||[[Bohemian waxwing]], ''B. garrulus'' {{Small|([[Linnaeus]], 1758)}}||[[File:BombycillaGarrulusIUCNver2019 1.png|130px]]
|-
|[[File:Bombycilla japonica.jpg|130px]]||[[Japanese waxwing]], ''B. japonica'' {{Small|([[Philipp Franz von Siebold|Siebold]], 1824)}}|| Japan, Korea, Russian Far East and in Heilongjiang province, north-east China
|-
|[[File:CedarWaxWing Rockwall TX US.jpg|130px]]||[[Cedar waxwing]], ''B. cedrorum'' {{Small|[[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1808}}|| [[File:Cedar Waxwing-rangemap.png|130px]]
|-
|}
[[File:Lucas Cranach the Elder - Two Dead Bohemian Waxwings - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Two Dead Bohemian Waxwings'' by [[Lucas Cranach the elder]], ca. 1530]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Bombycilla}}
*{{Wikispecies-inline|Waxwing|''Waxwing''}}
*[http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/waxwings-bombycillidae Waxwing videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
{{Passerida|M.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q208940|from2=Q11897625|from3=Q11227033}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Bombycilla| ]]
[[Category:Extant Miocene first appearances]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot]]