Guide

Go seeBirds

Cedar waxwing flocks at winter fruit

November to March

Cedar waxwings are crested, tan-and-yellow birds that travel in flocks and descend on fruiting trees and shrubs to feast. Late fall and winter are when you find them wherever fruit is still hanging.

Why this time of year

In the cold months waxwings gather wherever fruit remains on the trees. Their numbers in Massachusetts in winter are erratic and they concentrate where that fruit is.

How to notice it

  1. Find a tree or shrub that still has fruit hanging, such as juniper or dogwood, and stand back from it.
  2. Listen for thin, high, lisping whistles, and look for a flock of small crested birds landing together and leaving together.
  3. Check the tail tips for a yellow band and the face for a narrow black mask.
  4. Watch birds lined up on a branch. Sometimes they pass a berry back and forth, bill to bill, until one swallows it.

Try this with kids: Count the birds in the flock, then see if you can catch one handing a berry to its neighbor.

Sources

  • audubon.orgAudubon field guide: 'Occasionally a line of waxwings perched on a branch will pass a berry back and forth, from bill to bill, until one of them swallows it.' Feeds on fleshy fruits throughout the year, almost always forages in flocks except when nesting, movements irregular and depend on food supplies, migratory flocks form in August, yellow tail band and black mask.
  • massaudubon.orgMass Audubon Breeding Bird Atlas 1: MA egg dates May 30 to August 13; occurrence through the year in MA 'notoriously erratic'; in winter variable numbers may show up anywhere in the state, concentrating where fruit remains on the trees.

Checked against these sources on October 6, 2026.

In the guide for November, December, January, February, March

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