BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Bombycilla garrulus
Bohemian Waxwing
| Scientific Name: | Bombycilla garrulus (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Bohemian Waxwing | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-BOWA | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Apr 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5 (Mar 2015) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Female incubates 4-6 eggs for ca. 14 days. Nestlings altricial. Young tended by both adults, leave the nest about 13-15 days after hatching (Terres 1980). | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | Sometimes travels in cedar waxwing flocks. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
N / Y / Y / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | Withdraws southward from northern half of breeding range in winter. Wanders irregularly east and south in fall and winter when berry supply is low. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Open coniferous or deciduous forest, muskeg and, less frequently, mixed coniferous-deciduous woodland; in migration and winter also open woodland, vineyards, suburban gardens, and parks (AOU 1983). BREEDING: Nests in trees, usually on outer horizontal limb, 1-15 m above ground (Terres 1980). | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Frugivore: Adult, Immature
Invertivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Feeds on insects and some berries during the summer. At other times of the year feeds mostly on fruits and berries (e.g., mountain ash fruits, cedar and juniper berries). Flies out from a perch and catches insects in the air. | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 21/ / 56 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | BREEDING: in North America from western and northern Alaska east to Mackenzie Delta and south through Canada to central Washingon, northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana. In Eurasia from northern Scandinavia east across northern Russia to northern Siberia. NON-BREEDING: in North America from southeastern Alaska south through Canada, western U.S., wandering to southern California, northern Texas, New Jersey, and Newfoundland. In Eurasia from breeding range south to British Isles, central and southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, Iran, Turkestan, Mongolia, Manchuria, Ussuriland, Korea, Japan, and the Kurile Islands (AOU 1983). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Mar 16, 1994 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
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Banks, R. C., and M. R. Browning. 1995. Comments on the status of revived old names for some North American birds. Auk 112:633-648. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp. |
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Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp. |
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National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC. |
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Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1994. Species Summary: Bombycilla garrulus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).