From Opus

Photo by Rayh
Photographed at Spurn Point, E. Yorks

Bombycilla garrulus

[edit] Identification

7 1/2 -8 1/2" (19-22 cm)
A sleek, gray-brown, crested bird. Similar to Cedar Waxwing but larger, grayer, and with conspicuous white wing patches and most importantly rusty (not white) undertail coverts.

[edit] Distribution

[edit] Old World Range

Breeds rather sparsely in north-central Sweden, and the northern half of Finland, and more commonly across northern Russia between about 60^oS and 66^oN.

Photo by Ron McCombe
Musselburgh, Lothian, Scotland, January 2009

A partial migrant with many birds remaining in breeding range through the winter but makes irregular invasions further south and south-west. Normal winter range extends throughout Scandinavia, Germany and Netherlands in the west and south to the Black Sea in the east. During irruption years variable numbers reach Britain, mainly on the east coast from Shetland to Kent, usually in October-November and staying until February-March, rarely later although summering pairs have occurred.

[edit] New World Range

Breeds from Alaska, Yukon, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba south to central Washington, northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana. Wanders irregularly farther south and east during winter.

[edit] Taxonomy

Photo by Sandpiper
Marston, Lincolnshire, UK, November 2012

[edit] Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• B. g. pallidiceps:

• North-western North America; highly nomadic in winter

• B. g. garrulus:

• Fenno-Scandia to western Siberia; winters to central Europe

• B. g. centralasiae:

• Central Siberia to Sea of Okhotsk; winters to southern China and Japan

[edit] Habitat

Breeds in the taiga, usually in pine or spruce, sometimes mixed with birch, rarely in mountains but found in foothills and lowlands. In autumn seeks berry-bearing trees and bushes and occurs in gardens, parks and along hedgerows on farmland and on roadsides. In Britain preferred berries are hawthorn and cotoneaster.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

They nest in a pine tree and the nests are lined with fine grass, moss, and down. 4 to 6 pale blue with black spots and lines eggs are laid. They are incubated for 14 days; the young fledge about 13 to 15 days later.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes berries supplemented by insects.

[edit] Vocalisation

High-pitched, lisping seeee, harsher and more grating than call of Cedar Waxwing.

[edit] References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist

• List of references

[edit] External Links