Get more from your Waxwing watching.

Waxwing's have been a big hit this year, both at Saltholme (which unofficially had the first mainland UK record of Waxwing this year... ooooo get us :) and on many of our other reserves up and down the country. Hopefully readers of this blog will have managed to catch up with some somewhere as they are both a very showy and very vocal species (I'll be quick to add that that Waxwing's don't usually behave like they did in Tommy's Fair Isle garden. It took him a lot of time and patience to get their trust. That and there's no-one else around also helps. Just shows that with a bit of fieldwork you can get very close indeed).

If you're local to the area have a look at the Teesmouth Bird Club's sightings page to see if any have been seen near you, otherwise keep your eye out for berry laden trees on your way to work, where you walk your dog or even in the local supermarket. These chaps were at an Asda car park in Hull.

This blog is really to give those that have seen or do see them regularly, a little extra challenge. Ageing and sexing. Now I appreciate this might fill some of you with dread but the best thing about it is how super easy it is. The features are obvious and the birds can give excellent views meaning you should be able to have a good look at all the features on all the birds in the flock.

The key areas to look at are the tail tip, wings, and throat and this is what to look for.... (it's a bit technical so if you want help knowing what part of a bird is what, here you go)

1. The yellow band on the tail is thicker in a male and thinner in a female.

2. There are more red waxy tips (giving the bird its name) on the secondaries and tertials of a male than a female.

3. The primary tips of an adult are fringed white, in a young bird there is no white.

4. The yellow on the primary fringes is brighter an adult and paler in a younger bird.

5. The border of the black throat patch and the breast is well defined on a male and more diffuse on a female. This last feature is probably the hardest to see depending on the birds position and viewing angle so best to stick to wings and tail initially.

This is very tricky to put into context without any examples so, with the help of some fantastic images from Ian and Ray, here are some examples.....

This picture shows a young female (born this year) with a thin yellow tail band, washed out yellow fringes to the primaries with no white tips and only one red tip to the secondary. You can't see the black throat patch very clearly but this would be diffuse where it met the chest.

This second picture is a young male (born this year) with a thicker yellow tail band, stronger yellow primary fringes but white tips still absent and many red tips to the secondaries. The throat patch has a clear cut border.

The third picture is an adult female (born last year or any year previously) with a thinner tail band, more red tips to secondaries, stronger yellow fringes on the primaries and subtle but still present white tips to the primaries. While you can’t see the throat patch, the bird next to it is a female and you can clearly see the diffuse throat patch that this bird would show (and you can also see the thinner tail band as well confirming it as a female). Remember not to identify anything with certainty on one feature, unless it’s song in case any of you are thinking of being naughty and picking me up on that

The final picture is an adult male (born last year or any year previously). This shows all the features you could wish for. Thick yellow tail band, bright yellow primary fringes with thick white tips, loads of waxy tips on the secondaries and tertials and a sharp border to the throat patch.

Hope that’s been an interesting read and will give you something else to have a look at when enjoying these magnificent birds. If you don’t have any Waxwings near you have a look at some of the pictures in the links above to see if you can age and sex some. 

Big thanks to Ian and Ray for taking such great pictures.

**EDIT** Just a quick note at the bottom. There is a technical side to this involving counting and measuring but the idea of the post was to get you looking and get your eye in but for those of you wanting the specifics here you go :)

Young Female: 0-5 waxy tips (longest measuring 0-3.5mm). Yellow tip on central tail feather 2-5m. Yellow tip on outer tail feather 3-6mm

Young male: 4-8 waxy tips (longest measuring 3.5-5.5mm). Yellow tip on central tail feather 5-8m. Yellow tip on outer tail feather 7-10.5mm

Adult female: 5-7 waxy tips (longest measuring 3-7.5mm). Yellow tip on central tail feather 4-6m. Yellow tip on outer tail feather 5-8mm

Adult male: 6-8 waxy tips (longest measuring 6-9.5mm). Yellow tip on central tail feather 5.5-8.5m. Yellow tip on outer tail feather 7-11mm