Moving into spring means we are welcoming many species of birds, amphibians, and insects back onto the landscape. It also means that some birds that have been here through the winter are moving farther north, and the coming weeks may be our last chance to see them for many months. One of these birds that you should be on the lookout for, which many people are seeing right now, is the Bohemian waxwing.

Waxwings are a unique group of birds. They are in the large order Passeriformes with all of our “perching birds” and what we colloquially call “song birds.” Their scientific family, Bombycillidae, comprises the common and abundant cedar waxwing, our winter visitor and aforementioned Bohemian waxwing, and one that we’ll never see here, the eastern Asian Japanese waxwing. 

Their appearances match their names: Bombycillidae comes from the Ancient Greek “bombux” meaning silk and “cilla” meaning tail, and all the waxwings have a smooth, silky look to their feathers. Waxwing is a reference to the wax-like tips that grow on their secondaries (the flight feathers on the inner half of the wing). Cedars are a bit smaller than their northern Bohemian counterparts but both are about the size of a European starling. They are best told apart by plumage. Cedars have yellow on the belly fading to a lighter brown color on the chest. Bohemians are a darker gray overall, and if you can see under the tail, they have rusty-red undertail coverts (which are white on cedars). 

Both waxwings are pretty nomadic birds because their diet is primarily fruit, and with its seasonal abundance they need to move around to find it. Cedar waxwings can be found year-round in Maine, but Bohemians only visit us in winters when there is not enough fruit to sustain them farther north. We get low numbers every year, but in years that food is especially hard to find in Canada or points north, we can see flocks coming down to Maine by the hundreds. This is known as an “irruption,” just like we see with snowy owls and finches like redpolls. 

While fruit makes up the majority of their diet throughout the year, it can be hard to come by in the early spring. We’ve seen reports of them lately feeding on what berries remain, mostly non-native ornamental plantings around buildings. Unfortunately many of these get planted right next to buildings and birds will fly into the reflective glass, which they can’t “see,” and think it is safe to go through. This is an unfortunate reminder that glass is a major threat to birds not only during migration, but year-round. 

Earlier this week I was surprised to find a flock along a wooded section of the Sebago to Sea Trail in Windham. Surprising because not only was there no fruit around, but they were actually feeding in deciduous trees. I watched the group feeding on the freshly emerged flowers (in the catkins) of a bigtooth aspen, and nipping the buds off a maple. This was a new behavior to me, but fun to read about later, as I learned they will also target the sap from maple trees in the spring.

Bohemian waxwings start moving north in March but we have a good chance of seeing them for a couple more weeks, then they become very scarce by the beginning of May. Some years their numbers seem to bump up in early spring, possibly as birds wintering farther south are moving through, or maybe it is just because the weather is nicer for us and we are getting out and seeing more. 

Either way, I want to encourage you to get out to find a Bohemian or cedar waxwing. Download the Merlin App and it can help you detect a flock nearby by their high pitched calls. The app has a fun new feature — a “Nearby places” button — so you can search for a bird and see where it is being reported near you.

Have you got a nature or wildlife question? It doesn’t have to be about birds! Email questions to [email protected] visitmaineaudubon.orgto learn more about birding, native plants, and programs and events focusing on Maine wildlife and habitat. Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox and other naturalists lead free bird walks on Thursday mornings starting at 8 am, at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm Audubon Sanctuary in Falmouth.