Population status

Cedar Waxwing
(Bombycilla cedrorum)

The Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is the most reliable source of data for the Cedar Waxwing and, in general, indicates a moderate increase in the population since about 1970. However, the BBS annual indices show a population with substantial annual fluctuations, likely due to a combination of the species' flocking behaviour, lack of territoriality and late breeding season (Witmer et al. 1997). These factors may result in variable counts due to differences in timing of breeding activities in years of differing phenology. BBS annual indices indicate that the population increase has followed a non-linear pattern; increasing steadily until the mid-1990s when, despite continuing large fluctuations, the trend levelled off. The most recent decade (2002-2012) shows little overall change in the population. At the regional level, results vary from declines of 60% in the Great Basin and Northern Pacific Rainforest Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) to large increases in the Northern Rockies, Lower Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain and Atlantic Northern Forest.

Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) - Canadian analysis

Additional information on: Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) - Canadian analysis

References

• Witmer, M.C., D.J. Mountjoy and L. Elliot. 1997. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Witmer, M.C., D.J. Mountjoy and L. Elliot. 1997. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)