Bohemian Waxwing

How to identify

Field marks

1. A single bright yellow terminal band on the tail feathers
2. Slender, tufted crest on the crown
3. Black eyestripe, with black also on the jaw area
4. Red waxy projections at the tips of the secondaries

Male, female and young

Sexes similar; female has a narrower yellow band at the tail tip; juvenile has less distinct markings and few or no red waxy wingtips.

Voice

A continuous, faint, high-pitched trill, like “sirrrr”.

Similar species

Japanese Waxwing

Japanese Waxwing has a red band at the tail tip and no yellow stripes on the wings; Bohemian Waxwing has a bright yellow band at the tail tip, and adults have yellow stripes on the wings.

Where and when it's recorded

Bohemian Waxwing has been recorded at 840 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 45 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Fish Creek PP – Bebo GroveCanada1,462 records
2. Calgary – Weaselhead Natural AreaCanada1,346 records
3. Calgary – Griffith Woods ParkCanada1,082 records

Countries and regions with the most records

CanadaUnited StatesChinaFinlandUnited KingdomSwedenNorwayPoland

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Bohemian waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) is a starling-sized passerine bird that breeds in the northern forests of the Palearctic and North America. 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.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions