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Cedar Waxwings exhibit remarkable adaptations, particularly noted for their vibrant coloration and vocal prowess. Their tail tips typically yellow can shift to orange due to rhodoxanthin from honeysuckle berries consumed during molt. As they transition from central to outer tail feathers, their diet influences their appearance. Additionally, their distinct waxy wing tips contribute to their name and allure. This species showcases notable interspecific territoriality and unique nesting behaviors amidst environmental changes, raising concerns about biotic homogenization due to habitat alterations.
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Passerines 2 Mockers to Invaders
Superb Coloration Cedar Waxwing tail tips, normally yellow, can be partly orange (as seen here) owing to the incorporation into developing tail feathers of rhodoxanthin, a red pigment found in Tartarian Honeysuckle berries that waxwings frequently consume during molt. This adult must have increasingly fed on honeysuckle berries as the molt of its tail proceeded from central tail feathers to outer ones. Note also waxy tips to wing feathers (secondaries), which give the species its name. Wax-like wing tips are feathers with fused terminal barbs
Spectactular Migration Paxton et al. 2007. Auk 124:162-175 Kimura et al. 2002. Molecular Ecology 11:1605-1616
Diversity of Blackbirds Orians and Angell 1985 Blackbirds of the Americas. U. W. Press
