The waxwing - a lovely rotund plump bird. The waxwing is slightly smaller than a starling and is really pretty. It has a very visible crest and is is reddish-brown or pinky beige with a black throat. The waxwing has black mask round its eye, yellow and white in the wings and a yellow-tipped tail.

The secondary wing feathers have red waxy "fingers". The rump is grey and the vent is red. The legs and bill are black. Young birds have smaller crests, no black bib and no waxy red "fingers". These birds do not look unlike a cockatoo.

The waxwing doesn't breed in the UK. The waxwing is a winter visitor to the Uk

Waxwings are natives of northern Europe where they breed in the summer and feed on insects. These lovely birds nest high up in the branches of trees in coniferous forests & birch woodland. Mossy, damp, lichen-rich places. The cup-shaped nest is built by both sexes from twigs, grass and moss. The female incubates the eggs. After the young hatch, they are fed by both parents

The waxwings lay 4 - 6 pale eggs which are a bluish colour. They nest in . Northern Scandinavia, Russia. Europe, North America and when the food runs out they come to Britain, Scotland and the Western Isles in occasionally large "irruptions" .