WINTER BACKYARD BIRDS (U.S AND CANADA)

Bohemian Waxwing

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Bombycilla Garrulus

Adults have sleek crests, gray overall, with face washed in chestnut, a yellow band at the tip of their tail.

Adult males have a throat patch, larger than the females and a broader yellow tip to the tail with red waxy tips on their secondary feathers.

Juveniles have plumage that is grayer than the adults, with a whitish throat, and streaked underparts.

BILL: mainly black bill.

SIZE: starling-sized, about 7.5 - 9.1 inches in length, with a wingspan of 12.6 - 14 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 55 grams.

COLOR: chestnut, yellow, red, white and gray.

Fruits and insects, but it also takes buds in several tree species, flowers, sap, bark, shoots, leaves, moss, and lichens, with, in addition, spiders and snails.

Primary Diet: carnivore (insectivore), herbivore (frugivore).

Animal Foods: insects.

Plant Foods: fruit, flowers, and sap or other plant fluids.

Coniferous forests, mainly in open forest or edge and near rivers, with areas where it can find dense growth or fruiting trees and bushes. During winter, it frequents various types of habitats with scattered trees and fruiting trees and bushes. It can be seen in gardens, farmland, roadsides and deciduous forest edges.

Northern regions of Eurasia and North America.

Utters a weak, trilled, shivering “sirrr” when perched or in flight. Their song is a soft, sustained series of quiet, trilled phrases, similar to their call but mixed with other sounds like wheezy notes and harsh scraping sounds.

NEST: both sexes build a cup of thin twigs lined with softer material such as fine grass, moss, fur or lichen. It is constructed 1.3–15 m (4–50 ft) above the ground in a pine or scrub, commonly close to the trunk.

EGGS: 3 - 7 glossy pale blue spotted eggs.

INCUBATION: 13 - 14 days, female only.

They are mainly a fruit-eater, but also feeds on insects especially during breeding season. They are often seen fluttering from perch to perch in shrubs and trees and rarely walk around. Their aggression is only noted when they are mate-guarding. They are social, found mainly in flocks that travel together to forage and migrate.

REFERENCES: http://www.oiseaux-birds.com

                         https://animaldiversity.org

                         https://en.wikipedia.org