"Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), <a href=""http://banjon.smugmug.com/Birding/Waxwings/Cedar-Waxwings/""> Gallery </a>   A member of the family Bombycillidae or waxwing family of passerine birds. It breeds in open wooded areas in North America, principally southern Canada and the northern United States.   These birds' most prominent feature is a small cluster of bright red feathers on the wings, a feature they share with the Bohemian Waxwing (but not the Japanese Waxwing). The tail is typically yellow or orange depending on diet. Birds that have fed on berries of introduced Eurasian honeysuckles (seen here) while growing tail feathers will have darker orange-tipped tail-feathers. Adults have a pale yellow belly. Immature birds are streaked on the throat and flanks, and often do not have the black mask of the adults. More information available at <a href=""http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Waxwing""> Wikipedia.org </a>.    More information compliments of <a href=""http://pj-mcblake.smugmug.com""> P.J. Blake on Smugmug </a>. The red tips on the wing feathers are actually waxy deposits, not feathers themselves, hence the name ""waxwing.""  The waxy tips are thought to have some relevance to age, but in truth no one is entirely sure what the purpose is. There are only three species in the Bombycillidae family in the world, and North America has two of them.    Salt Marsh Trail, Halifax, Nova Scotia.  8 August 2009."
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