[Fact box]

Landscape associations:

[BCR]

Print

Click on plot to view table of mean abundance

Characteristics and Range The waxwings are a distinctive family of primarily fruit-eating songbirds that form tight flocks that might be mistaken for starlings. They are characterised by a rear crest, a thick black eye-line or "mask" bordered in white, a yellow or red tail tip, pointed wings, and a soft vinaceous-grey plumage with colourful waxy tips on the secondaries. The Cedar Waxwing is a familiar summer visitor. It is the smaller of Manitoba's two waxwing species and has cream-coloured undertail coverts that help distinguish it from the Bohemian Waxwing (which has cinnamon undertail coverts). It is the only exclusively North American member of its small family (three species), nesting from British Columbia to Newfoundland, mostly south of 60°N, and south to the central conterminous U.S.A., mostly north of 37°N. It winters across southernmost Canada, including small but variable numbers in Manitoba, south to Panama (Witmer et al. 2014).

Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat The Cedar Waxwing was found nesting across Manitoba south of 58.5°N (Lac Brochet). In eastern areas of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, it was found >100 km north of the range limit estimated in The Birds of Manitoba, including the southern and central portion of Wapusk National Park, where there were multiple records in six squares (despite the species being described as rare in the park, Rockwell et al. 2009). Its occurrence in 43 squares in the Taiga Shield & Hudson Plains was unexpected, as was the high concentration along the Gods and Hayes Rivers all the way to Hudson Bay. Although probable breeding was recorded in 17 of these 43 squares in the Taiga Shield & Hudson Plains, there are other summer records as far north as Churchill that have been described as "wandering individuals" (The Birds of Manitoba). Despite high occupancy in every BCR except the Arctic Plains & Mountains, the Cedar Waxwing was found to be most abundant in the boreal-parkland transition and southern boreal biome where mixed coniferous and deciduous forest occur, a pattern which created the highest mean abundances in the Boreal Hardwood Transition and the Boreal Taiga Plains overall. The Cedar Waxwing typically prefers relatively open woodland types, including those found in rural towns, cemeteries, shelter belts, farm yards and other human-altered areas. This species is generally absent from the extensive black spruce and tamarack bogs that dominate much of Manitoba's central boreal forest. Many northern records were either in riparian habitat or around partially treed and shrub-lined lakes, consistent with these general habitat preferences. Although waxwings are skilled at catching insects, both by gleaning and by aerial flycatching, the presence of some fruiting trees or shrubs during the breeding season, especially in the post-fledging period, is also important (Witmer et al. 2014).

Trends, Conservation, and Recommendations The Cedar Waxwing is abundant and has apparently stable populations in Manitoba and Canada (BBS data). This species has probably benefitted from human activities, including the planting of ornamental fruiting trees and the creation of shrublands following regeneration after clearing (Witmer et al. 2014). Waxwings are vulnerable to pesticides and were affected by DDT, but appear to have now rebounded from those losses to the point where they are considered an agricultural pest in some fruit-growing areas outside Manitoba (Witmer et al. 2014).

Christian Artuso

Recommended citation: Artuso, C. 2018. Cedar Waxwing in Artuso, C., A. R. Couturier, K. D. De Smet, R. F. Koes, D. Lepage, J. McCracken, R. D. Mooi, and P. Taylor (eds.). The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Manitoba, 2010-2014. Bird Studies Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba http://www.birdatlas.mb.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=CEDW&lang=en [11 Oct 2024]