Overview

House Wren: Small wren with brown head, nape, and back showing very fine dark brown bars, faint white eyebrows, and gray-brown underparts with fine brown bars on flanks and below tail. Wings and tail are brown with darker bars. Brown-throated Wrens have a bolder eyebrow and a darker throat. Northern birds are grayer overall with baring on the flanks. Southern birds have light brown upperparts and buff underparts. Bill is thin and slightly decurved.

House Wren: Breeds from southern Canada southward to central California, central New Mexico, northern Arkansas, and northern Georgia. Other forms are found from Mexico southward throughout South America and the West Indies. Winters in the southern U.S. and Mexico. Preferred habitats include open woodlands, forest edges, forest openings, shrubby areas and farmlands.

Voice Text

"cheh-cheh"

• House Wrens are fiercely territorial, they have been known to destroy bluebird and other cavity nester's eggs by piercing them, and then often removing the eggs from the nest.
• There have been occasional reports of House Wrens killing young nestlings (4-5 days old) or throwing them out of the nest.
• House Wrens live up to 7 years in the wild.
• A group of wrens has many collective nouns, including a "chime", "flight", "flock", and "herd" of wrens.

• Winter Wren
• Bewick's Wren
• Marsh Wren
• Carolina Wren
• Sedge Wren
• Rock Wren
• Canyon Wren
• Pacific Wren

Wrens (Troglodytidae)

ORDER

The wrens are just one of the one hundred eighteen families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez); a large taxonomic order that includes other bird families with pleasant songs such as the thrushes, the vireos, and the mockingbirds.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

There are seventy-nine species of wrens in sixteen genera in the Troglodytidae (pronounced trog-luh-DIE-tuh-dee), a family mostly restricted to the New World.

NORTH AMERICA

Forty-six species of wrens in fourteen genera are found in North America. These include the familiar House Wren, the desert dwelling Cactus Wren, and the aptly named Rock Wren.

KNOWN FOR

The House Wren is known for its confiding, friendly behavior. This familiar bird species is well-named as it often occurs around human habitations, often building its nest under the eaves of roofs or in backyard nest boxes.

PHYSICAL

The wrens are small birds for the most part although the Cactus Wren is a medium-sized bird. The members of this family are rather plump birds with short wings, longish, strong legs and feet, and rather large heads with long, thin, slightly downcurved bills. Tail size varies from the very short as is the case in the wood-wrens, to longish as in the Cactus Wren.

COLORATION

Bright colors are not found in the plumages of wrens. Various shades of brown predominate, many species with black spots, barring or streaks. Some species also have white on the underparts, white eye-brows, or white spotting.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

The Troglodytidae occur in most North American habitats except for the tundra. Most occur near the ground in the undergrowth of forests, scrub, desert vegetation, and second growth, while a few species are entirely terrestrial and frequent rocky areas.

MIGRATION

Wrens are non-migratory except for the Winter Wren, a short distance migrant from boreal forests to the southern United States.

HABITS

Most wren species are solitary birds that typically forage in pairs and do not join mixed flocks. They forage by using their bills to investigate dead leaf clusters, crevices, and various other hiding places used by the small creatures they prey upon.

CONSERVATION

No wren species are threatened in North America.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Winter Wren is the only wren species found outside of North America. In its large Eurasian range, it occurs in a wide variety of habitats and is a common garden bird that somewhat fills the niche of the House Wren. It also has one of the loudest songs for a bird of its size.

Author

Artist

Michael Oberhofer