![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/cedar-waxwing-2487-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"cedar-waxwing-2487-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nWhat are they made of? What’s their purpose? And why do some waxwings have more red waxy tips than others and some\u00a0individuals\u00a0don’t have any at all?<\/p>\n
But first a little whimsy.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this waxwing in the Wasatch\u00a0Mountains\u00a0yesterday as it was cleaning its bill. It’s one of the best views of bill cleaning I’ve ever captured.<\/p>\n Normally I’d\u00a0avoid posting an image where the\u00a0subject has such a strong shadow\u00a0across its body because\u00a0shadows tend to distract from the bird. But I actually kind of like this one because of its graphic lines that resemble the shape of a bird’s foot – how appropriate is that! And to add to the whimsy, the 3-branched twig to the left of the\u00a0waxwing also\u00a0mimics that same\u00a0bird’s foot shape.<\/p>\n And for obvious reasons\u00a0that twig couldn’t have caused the shadow on the bird so there must have been another one of almost exactly that same\u00a0shape out of frame that did. For some reason\u00a0that coincidence\u00a0amuses me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Ok, now to those red, waxy feather tips on their secondaries\u00a0which can clearly be seen here\u00a0after the same bird turned around on its perch.<\/p>\n Those tips are actually small appendages on the bird’s secondaries and they’re composed of a red, waxy secretion called astaxanthin –\u00a0a carotenoid pigment. For years it was thought that their purpose is to protect the feathers from wear and\u00a0tear\u00a0but there’s virtually no evidence to support that. Instead, many ornithologists now believe they function as status symbols in mate selection.<\/p>\n Those appendages increase in both number and size as a bird becomes older. Individuals with fewer waxy tips (say\u00a00-5)\u00a0are younger and those with up to 9 are older. Those with more tips tend to choose other older birds (also with more red\u00a0tips)\u00a0as mates and\u00a0those birds\u00a0nest earlier and raise more offspring than younger\u00a0waxwings (those with fewer tips).\u00a0So it seems that the tips are important signals in choice of mates and social organization – they’re plumage enhancements that signal age, maturity and social status to other waxwings, especially\u00a0during courtship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another striking plumage feature of Cedar Waxwings is their bright yellow tail tip. But in the 1960’s, for the first time, waxwings started appearing with bright orange tail tips instead of yellow. Cedar Waxwings are\u00a0gluttonous berry-eaters and it turns out that orange-tipped birds\u00a0had been\u00a0eating large quantities of berries from\u00a0a recently introduced species of honeysuckle that caused their tail tips to absorb\u00a0a new pigment as the new\u00a0feathers\u00a0were growing in\u00a0during molt. Orange tail tips were the result.<\/p>\n Thought I’d throw out that last little tidbit just for the fun of it…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What are they made of? What’s their purpose? And why do some waxwings have more red waxy tips than others and some individuals don’t have any at all?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/cedar-waxwing-2512-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"cedar-waxwing-2512-ron-dudley\\"")
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