Cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) are in town eating fruit on our trees, vines and shrubs.  Their nomadic flocks go where the fruit is and right now it’s in Pittsburgh.

These sleek, fast moving, unpredictable birds are so social you almost never see one alone.  The flocks can number in the hundreds, bouncing from tree to tree or perched high on bare branches.

Without binoculars they look like the last remaining leaves.

If you get a good look at a waxwing you’ll see a sleek bird, smaller than a robin, with a crest, black face mask, yellow tail tips, an olive brown back that fades to gray, a taupe breast and lemon yellow belly.  If you’re lucky you’ll also see the waxy red wing tips that give the bird its “waxwing” name.

Its “cedar” name comes from the birds’ fondness for cedar berries.

Cedar waxwings look easy to identify but they can fool you.  They often flatten their crests and move so fast you can’t get a good look at them.  In flight they resemble starlings, and there are some odd-looking birds among them.

The mottled ones are immature waxwings whose body shape, black masks, and yellow tail tips are the hint to their identity.

While feeding, the flock bounces and swirls above you. Then just before they all take off they raise their voices in high-pitched Zeeee’s and are gone.  If you can’t hear the sound below, click here for the sonogram to see what you missed.  (Note: There’s a cardinal in the background of the recording. You might hear the cardinal but not the waxwings. Cedar waxwings are one of the first bird sounds we lose as we age.)

“Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)” xeno-canto XC313683 by Antonio Xeira

Though some waxwings stay all winter in southern Pennsylvania most of the nomads are on their way to the southern U.S.  They’ll leave when they run out of fruit or a cold front arrives.

p.s. Cedar waxwings are one of the few species whose population has increased in the past 20 years, perhaps because there’s more fruit as invasive honeysuckle spreads and we plant ornamentals in new suburbs.

(cedar waxwing photos by Cris Hamilton, photo of eastern redcedar berries by Keith Kanoti, Maine Forest Service via Bugwood.org)

Northern wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) are insectivorous songbirds that breed in northern Eurasia, northeastern Canada, and Alaska.  But no matter where they breed they go home to Africa for the winter.

Research using geolocators has found that they make longer journeys than they need to because they’re so committed to their African home.  Those that breed in Alaska travel 9,000 miles.

All About Birds illustrated this amazing migration in the map linked below.  Wheatears from the Canadian Arctic cross the North Atlantic to the U.K, then down the coast via the Azores to western Africa.  Those that breed in Alaska cross the Bering Strait and head east across Siberia, south to Kazakhstan and finally to eastern Africa.

Read more about their fascinating travels and how they fuel up to make the journey in the All About Birds blog:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/for-migration-northern-wheatears-go-the-distance-and-pack-accordingly/

If you see a northern wheatear in the Lower 48 States you are really lucky!

Typo Correction, 1:30pm: I mixed up east and west in Africa. Fortunately the birds know where they’re going.

(northern wheatear photo from Wikimedia Commons, map linked from All About Birds. Click on the images to see the originals in context.)

Finally!  Last night’s north wind generated intense bird migration from the northeastern U.S. to Texas.  Here’s the 10:30pm EDT radar mosaic.  Wow!

This morning we’ll find lots of new arrivals from Pittsburgh to the Gulf Coast. Among them will be chestnut-sided warblers that no longer live up to their name.

In the spring (at left above) both sexes of the chestnut-sided warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) have brownish red “chestnut” sides with a black eye line and malar stripes.  Their undersides are clear white from throat to tail and they have wing bars, yellow wing patches, a yellow cap, and something we rarely notice — yellow backs with black stripes.

In the fall their black accents are gone and most are missing the chestnut sides. Instead they have white eye rings!  The right hand photo shows this amazing transformation.

Fall chestnut-sided warblers retain their clear white throats and bellies, yellow wing bars, and their distinguishing characteristic — the yellow on top of their heads.  The color is muted now to yellow-green and extends to the nape and back.

What happened to the chestnut sides?  Adult males have a hint of chestnut, shown in the right hand photo, but the females and juveniles are missing it.  And just to make you crazy, fall bay-breasted warblers have chestnut sides and yellowish heads — but no eye ring.

So don’t expect to find a chestnut-sided warbler today.  Watch for the yellowish cap.

(chestnut-sided warbler comparison photos by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Wikimedia Commons. Click on these links to see the original photos in spring and fall)