Cedar Waxing
Scientific Name:
Bombycilla decision Origin:
North America
This is an easy-to-manage soft-billed bird although you must be careful enough to offer the right diet to the pet as the bird tends to gain weight. It needs a large aviary and a carefully regulated diet. The smooth, silky plumage of the Cedar Waxwing is one of its most notable features. It is placid and thrives well in groups. Several pairs may be kept together and with other species of similar size. If properly trained, birds can turn into excellent pets.
Description:
Size: 15 cm (6 in)
COCK:
Head: pink-olive merging into grey-brown. Rump: grey. Tail: grey and edged with yellow. Eye stripe: the wide black band. White streaks under the eye. Wings: black with bright red flashes. Crest: pink-olive. Beak: black. Legs: black.
HEN:
Alike, so it cannot be sexed by appearance. Observe behavior to identify a cock bird.
Diet: (Softbill)
Coarse-grade insectile mix, soaked currants amid sultanas, raisins, and apples should be provided. It also enjoys berries. Encourage exercise by sitting food and drinking vessels some distance away from favorite perching spots.
Cedar Waxwing Breeding:
It is considered quite difficult to breed these birds, so try to keep several pairs. The aviary needs to be well planted with bushy conifers with high-mounted, cup-shaped wicker baskets and open-topped nest boxes set in the thickest foliage, encouraging nesting.
Successful hatching of chicks requires hard work by the owner, as the parents must have a plentiful supply of insects including gnats, flies, and mosquitoes. Outside the breeding season, the Cedar Waxwing shows less interest in live food.
The following are some facts related to the bird specie, Cedar Waxing.
- The term ‘waxing’ was added to the name of the bird because of the typical wax-like appendages found in the tips of the secondaries of the bird’s feather. The exact function of the secondaries of the bird is yet to be determined. Studies say that the secondary tips can be used for signaling function in the mating season.
- During the 1960s birds with wax-like secondaries with yellow plumage instead of orange were seen in North Eastern USA and South Eastern Canada. The original orange color is because the birds mainly feed on while red berries. Due to the intake of the red-pigmented berries, the bird gets the typical orange-colored wax-like secondaries.
- The bird is a primarily fruit-eating bird. The bird can stay only on fruits for several months. The bird defecates the seed of the fruit that it eats.
- As because the bird is mainly feeding on fruits it is vulnerable for the bird to fall sick or even dying due to a high level of intoxication in case the bird happens to have eaten fermented fruit.
In the wild, the bird is generally found on the edges of wooded forests or open forests where the berry-bearing trees are found in plenty. The bird loves the sound of rippling water and loves to bathe in shallow creeks.
See more: Cordon Bleu Waxbill