Key information
The waxwing is a plump bird, which is slightly smaller than a starling. It has a prominent crest. It is reddish-brown with a black throat, a small black mask round its eye, yellow and white in the wings and a yellow-tipped tail. It does not breed in the UK, but is a winter visitor, in some years in larger numbers, called irruptions, when the population on its breeding grounds gets too big for the food available.
What they eat:
Berries, particularly rowan and hawthorn, but also cotoneaster and rose.
Measurements:
- Length:
- 18 cm
- Wingspan:
- 32-35cm
- Weight:
- 45-70 g
Population:
- UK wintering:
- 10,000 birds
Identifying features:
Waxwing
