Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrulus

The Bohemian waxwing is a starling-sized passerine bird that breeds in the northern forests of the Palearctic and North America. It has mainly buff-grey plumage, black face markings and a pointed crest. Its wings are patterned with white and bright yellow, and some of the wing feathers have red tips, the resemblance of which to sealing wax gives these birds their common name. The two or three subspecies show only minor differences in appearance. Females are similar to males, although young birds are less well-marked and have few or no waxy wingtips. Although the Bohemian waxwing's range overlaps those of the cedar and Japanese waxwings, it is easily distinguished from them by size and plumage differences. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 62,860 times across 79 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 9°C (typically 3 to 14°C, from 19 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.