The Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) is a member of the waxwing family of passerines. It breeds in coniferous forests throughout the most northern parts of Europe, Asia and western North America. The nest is usually high in a pine tree.
Like other waxwings, it eats insects in the breeding season and berries in winter. This species is eruptive, moving south in huge numbers if the berry supply fails in winter.
Its flight is strong and direct, and in flight it looks like a pale starling.
The call is a pleasant ringing sound.
Its English name refers to the red blobs on its wings, which look like sealing wax, while 'Bohemian' refers to its (presumed) origin from Bohemia (at the time, a relatively unknown but "distant, eastern" place).
The generic name Bombycilla, from Latin Bombyx (silk / silk moth) + cilla (tail), is a direct translation of the Swedish name 'Sidensvans', silk-tail, and refers to the silky-soft plumage of the bird; the species name garrulus means 'noisy' or 'quarrelsome'.
Birds in winter can be very confiding and will come into gardens for berry bushes and trees, a favourite being the rowan.
During the breeding season, BohemianWaxwings tend to nest in colonies in the coniferous forests of western Canada and Alaska.
The BohemianWaxwing is larger with gray on its back, breast, and belly, whereas the Cedar Waxwing is buffy brown on its back and upper breast, with the brown fading to pale yellow at the belly.
The wings of the BohemianWaxwing are more colorful than those of the Cedar Waxwing; rather than gray-brown, they are fl, with a white wing bar at the base of the primary feathers and yellow and white spots on the margins of the primaries.
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