Species: Troglodytes aedon

House Wren

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

This is a moderately small wren that from a distance appears brownish gray, without a strong pattern. The head, nape, and back are brown, darker and more reddish in eastern populations, paler and grayer in western populations. There is a pale, often indistinct line above the eye and no striping on the crown. The throat and chest are light gray, sometimes with a buffy or brownish tinge. The flanks, tail, and wings have black, dark brown, and buffy barring. The sexes are identical in plumage. The plaumage does not change in appearance between summer and winter. Length is around 4.75 inches (12 cm). Song is a series of rapid trills and rattles.

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Troglodytidae

Genus

Troglodytes

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105321

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Chivirín Saltapared, Ratona Común, Chercán - Curruíra-de-Casa, Cambaxirra - troglodyte familier

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Troglodytidae - Troglodytes - because that would best serve nomenclatural stability.

Ecology and Life History

Migration

true - true - true - North- and south-temperate populations are migratory; tropical populations are resident. Breeding populations north of the southern United States migrate south for winter, south to southern Mexico. Spring migrants arrive in northern breeding areas March-May.

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Eats almost entirely insects; also other small invertebrates (Terres 1980).

Reproduction Comments

Breeding season is relatively short and strongly seasonal in the north, protracted and variable in the tropics (e.g., see Young, 1994, Condor 96:341-353). Egg laying in the United States begins as early as April in some areas, in May in most regions. Nesting may extend into July or August in some areas. Clutch size averages about 3-4 at low latitudes, about 5-7 at high latitudes (Young, 1994, Auk 111:545-555). Individual females in the north produce 2, sometimes 3, broods per year (3-4 in Costa Rica). Incubation, by the female, lasts 12-15 days. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at 12-18 days; male may feed fledged young while the female renests. Breeding is most commonly monogamous; males sometimes polygynous.

Ecology Comments

See Drilling and Thompson (1988) for intensive study, using 910 nest boxes over several years, of natal and breeding dispersal in Illinois. Density was 10-18 pairs per 40 ha in northern Arizona pine forest (Brawn and Balda 1988). Sometimes destroys the clutches of other birds, including conspecifics.

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-12-03

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-03

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

Breeding range extends from southern British Columbia across southern Canada to New Brunswick, and south to northern Baja California, Texas, and northern Georgia; also Mexico, West Indies, and Central and South America (to Tierra del Fuego). During the northern winter, this species ranges from the southern United States southward. The southern limit of the wintering range of North American populations is about at the northern limit of resident populations in Central America, so migratory and resident populations rarely co-occur (AOU 1983).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105321