More vacation pics! These two cedar waxwings were in the bird sanctuary, in Vernon,BC, in the early evening. The hard red wax-like tips on secondary wing feathers of a mature bird are how they acquired the name and not a male/female 'thing'..






I read that Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern United States and SE Canada beginning in the 1960's. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle and if they eat the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange.

Wonderful pics Pat!

New Jersey
Zone 6

I think those are so pretty. They look like they're airbrushed.

Joan Garvey - Metairie, LA Zone 9

Nice pictures! That is very true This is a picture I took in November 2005 of waxwing on that horribly invasive tartarian honysuckle

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sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B