page_title: Bohemian waxwing
section_title: Predators and parasites
hierarchical_section_title: Bohemian waxwing / Predators and parasites
caption_attribution_description: English: Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, perching on fence, Betuwe, Gelderland, Netherlands
context_page_description: The Bohemian waxwing is a starling-sized passerine bird that breeds in the northern forests of the Palearctic and North America. It has mainly buff-grey plumage, black face markings and a pointed crest. Its wings are patterned with white and bright yellow, and some feather tips have the red waxy appearance that give this species its English name. The three subspecies show only minor differences in appearance. Females are similar to males, although young birds are less well-marked and have few or no waxy wingtips. Although the Bohemian waxwing's range overlaps those of the cedar and Japanese waxwings, it is easily distinguished from them by size and plumage differences.
  The breeding habitat is coniferous forests, usually near water. The pair build a lined cup-shaped nest in a tree or bush, often close to the trunk. The clutch of 3–7 eggs is incubated by the female alone for 13–14 days to hatching. The chicks are altricial and naked, and are fed by both parents, initially mostly with insects, but thereafter mainly fruit. They fledge about 14–16 days after leaving the egg. Many birds desert their nesting range in winter and migrate farther south.
context_section_description: Waxwings are preyed upon by birds of prey including rough-legged buzzards, Eurasian sparrowhawks, prairie falcons, and great grey shrikes. Merlins attack winter flocks, including those in cities. When alarmed, Bohemian waxwings "freeze" with bill and neck pointing upwards. If this fails, they fly, calling noisily.
  Bohemian waxwings are not brood parasitised by the common cuckoo or its relatives in Eurasia because the cuckoo's young cannot survive on a largely fruit diet. In North America, the waxwing's breeding range has little overlap with brown-headed cowbird, another parasitic species. Nevertheless, eggs of other birds placed in a Bohemian waxwing's nest are always rejected. This suggests that in the past, perhaps 3 million years ago, the ancestral waxwing was a host of a brood parasitic species, and retains the rejection behaviour acquired then.
  Parasitic mites include Syringophiloidus bombycillae, first identified on this species, and the nasal mite Ptilonyssus bombycillae. Blood parasites include Trypanosoma species, and a Leucocytozoon first identified in this waxwing. Bohemian waxwings may carry flatworms and tapeworms, but levels of parasitic worm infestation are generally low.
caption: The Eurasian sparrowhawk hunts Bohemian waxwings.
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