unusual waxwing tail pattern

[Stan Bentley]

I ran into a flock of cedar waxwings last week in Craig County near Fenwick Mines. In looking at my photos of one of the birds, I noticed an unusual (at least to me) color pattern in the tail. Instead of the typical yellow terminal band on the tail there were yellow tips of varying length of tail feathers. This made a most interesting and very striking sight. I concluded that this was likely a young bird that had not yet attained its full adult colors. But, after having seen thousands of cedar waxwings, why have I never previously seen this pattern? Any comments or clarifications would be welcome

Stan Bentley

Pulaski, VA

[Eric Johnson]

Stan: The waxwing is in heavy tail molt - the outer feathers are just coming in, and so you see different feather lengths. Note that the yellow tips are all the same size. When all feathers are fully grown, the tail will look normal.   Eric Johnson, Stuart --- On Sun, 11/15/09, Stan Bentley <samor...@verizon.net> wrote:

[Rose Norris]

Hi Stan,

Beautiful pics! I am thinking that the bird's tail is still growing in from moult. Immature birds have the same tail pattern as adults, right?

Rose

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