Teesmouth Bird Club

Just thought I'd try and make your Waxwing watching more interesting and possibly give you a challenge as well Due to how well they pose and sit you can often get very good views of these birds which means you can have a bash at ageing and sexing them (if you so wish). Below are 4 images of, what I hope are, correctly aged and sexed birds and the ways you can do this yourself on any birds you come across. 

The key features to look for are red waxy tips to the secondaries (more on a male, less on a female), white and yellow on the primary tips (white tips present on an adult, absent on a juvenile and bright yellow fringing in an adult, pale yellow on a youngster), yellow band on the tail (thicker in a male, thinner in a female) and the black throat patch (sharp border with the chest on a male, diffuse in 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.

The first 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.

The 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 clearish 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 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. Thanks to Ian and Ray for taking such great pictures. If you don't have any Waxwings near you have a look see at the other pictures on here and see if you can age and sex some.