Migration Underway: Cedar Waxwing

In our last post, a migrating flock of robin visited the Colvin Run Habitat and brought with them the bird perched on the water pump tub (middle of the photo, back to the camera). Who is this? This perviously never observed in the Habitat bird is a cedar waxwing.
This regal looking bird is the size of robin, but is usually one of the last birds migrating north as they eat berries and fruit, which certainly are not available in Viriginia in late February or even early March. My guess is that this particular waxwing was wintering with other birds including these robins. When the robins came north, this waxwing just came along.
As you can see from this third photo, the coloring and the crown of the waxwing, especially when perched in the trees, is very similar to the female cardinal. Once you notice the yellow-tiped tail and the orange (nearly red)-tiped wings, you'll never confuse the waxwing with the femal cardinal.

Cedar waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada beginning in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange.
The cedar waxwing is one of the few temperate dwelling birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Unlike many birds that regurgitate seeds from fruit they eat, the cedar waxwing defecates fruit seeds. The cedar waxwing is vulnerable to alcohol intoxication and death after eating fermented fruit. Cornell