Cool Critters: For cedar waxwings, it’s a berry Christmas in the Inland Northwest

With less than two weeks before Christmas, many of our region’s birds migrated to their warm wintering grounds long ago. But the cedar waxwing is making merry in the Inland Northwest, its palette of colors vivid against December skies.

Sure, cardinals are strikingly beautiful with their red winter plumage, but they don’t live here. So, let’s get to know this Christmassy bird that calls our region home. Cheerily for us, it’s a hard bird to miss this time of year.

Cedar waxwings congregate in groups during winter, gorging on mostly red berries while moving tree to tree, shrub to shrub. With a crest of sweptback feathers topping its head, a sleek black mask across its eyes, jewel-like red wing tips and a yellow-edged tail, it resembles a wildlife model preened by a fashion designer. When perched, its erect posture suggests the bird is showcasing a cool elegance.

The cedar waxwing’s name is derived from both its appetite for cedar berries and the waxy red ends of its secondary tail feathers. Unlike most other bird species, the cedar waxwing’s primary diet is made up of berries, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

“The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit,” the Cornell lab says on its All about Birds website. “It can survive on fruit alone for several months.”

That’s why waxwings are commonly seen congregating around trees and shrubs that bear small berries, including cedar, hawthorn, winterberry, mountain ash and juniper. Note that they’re mostly the red variety.

Well, waxwings devour those berries, which in turn produce carotenoids that turn the waxy secretions on tips of some of their tail feathers bright red, according to the Cornell Lab.

Other than being ornamental, what purpose do these hardened red accessories serve? Ornithologists once believed they functioned as protection to the ends of the birds’ flight feathers. But research has revealed a more intriguing theory.

“The waxlike tips appear to function as signals of age and status,” along with suitability for mating, according to a 1988 study published in the journal of the American Ornithological Society. Where younger waxwings typically have zero to six waxy tips, more mature birds display more than nine tips, scientists found.

Whether young or old, cedar waxwings don’t sing. Instead of melody making, they trill and whistle in short, high-pitched call notes. Unlike most songbirds, you probably won’t hear a cedar waxwing before you see one.

Just ask Beverly Havens Hardin, of Spokane Valley. Each winter, cedar waxwings are drawn to three mountain ash trees and a heated bird bath in her backyard. Their visual presence is what usually catches her attention, she said.

“They will often sit still, as though they are posing,” Hardin said.

With the rising popularity of ornamental berry trees in landscaping, cedar waxwings have become more common in urban areas, according to the National Audubon Society, especially during winter.

“They’re stylish,” Hardin said. “I love watching them this time of year. It’s almost as if they’re dressed for a holiday party.”