Alaska Native Knowledge Network Resources for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing.

Bohemian Waxwing : Chattering Silky Tail Bohemian Waxwing Here's a bird unlike any other. It get its English name from the red, waxy tips of the adult's secondary wing feathers and the way it travels like a Bohemian gypsy during the winter, seemingly carefree and without a permanent home. I never did run across a Yupik name for the bird, but if there is one it probably means something similar to the scientific moniker, Bombycilla garrulus, or "chattering silky-tail" because of its incessant twittering while traveling in large flocks during the winter. Even during summer while canoeing on some northern river, their sweet buzzy twitter informs me of their presence at the tiptop of a nearby spruce tree. As soon as I hear the song I know we'll soon be visited by a curious delegation of the colorful talkative birds. Then Isee them flying out over the river, bouncing in the air in their own inimitable way just above our heads, back and forth, until finally, their curiosity satisfied, they bounce back to the riverbank where they originated and sit on the top of another sentinel spruce watching us disappear down the river. They are the type of bird that makes you feel welcome in the boreal forest. As friendly as they appear, many aspects of their behavior are still a mystery. Their courtship ritual is one of these, partly because they nest so deep in the northern forest. However, a few observers have seen the male strut before the female with his tail partially spread, wings drooped, crest fully erect, and his body held bolt upright. Both birds have also been seen perching close to each other with body feathers puffed out, the male holding a berry or flower in its beak and passing it as an offering to the female. During nesting season waxwings are anything but Bohemian in their behavior. They both help in the construction of their nest, which is an open cup of twigs, grass, moss and feathers carefully placed on a horizontal branch of birch or spruce about 6-20 feet above the ground. The female lays 4-6 pale bluish-gray, black-dotted eggs and incubates them herself for about two weeks when they hatch into ugly featherless chicks. It only takes another two weeks, however, for the little beasts to become feathered beauties and to begin seriously pondering the delights of flying. Which they do shortly thereafter, although they hang around mom and dad for some time thereafter, even through the first fall and winter migration learning how to fend for themselves. At first, both parents indulge their young with a diet heavy in insects, demonstrating how to dart out from a perch and capture even dragonflies. But as raspberries, chokecherries and juniper berries begin to ripen in late summer, they also show them how to hunt for these. Especially in fall and winter the young will hang with their parents on mountain ash spangled with fruit and gorge themselves on the little orange gems. Even in late winter when this fruit is quite fermented waxwings will eat it to the point they become hopelessly inebriated. I've seen them when they could barely hold onto the branch, slipping underneath and just hanging on by a claw. They were so inebriated, in fact, they could hardly fly. What a show they put on for me. If you're ever in Anchorage or Fairbanks during the winter, head for stands of mountain ash or chokecherries and watch these mellow birds. If you're dose enough and mellow enough yourself, one may even light on your shoulder. » List of Yupik Birds

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, educational institution and provider is a part of the University of Alaska system. Learn more about UA's notice of nondiscriminitation.