Wrens, a diverse family of predominantly new world songbirds, populate residential areas, grasslands, marshes and forests from Alaska to the southern most areas of South America.
Despite their small size and dull color, it’s ok to label them cute as a button. Nothing says sunshine on a cloudy day like a happy wren singing while hopping around the back yard.
The ABA lists eleven North American wrens. Ten are presented here. Species diversity increases to the south, with thirty breeding species identified in Mexico.
Most wrens share some common physical traits, including small size, brown feathers, stiff tails and long decurved bills. Wren vocalizations differ from species to species, and most species receive comparatively little credit for their singing skills.
Wrens also tend to be cavity nesters, some with an obsessive habit of tagging multiple cavities and bird boxes within their territory during breeding season. This practice may be defensive, with a goal of discouraging competitor nesting and confusing potential predators.
Despite their physical similarities, there are sufficient field identification clues to make wren identification a fairly easy task.
Start with the Bewick’s wren in the video at the top of the page. Bewick’s wren inhabit Western brush areas, often in residential locations. Northern populations tend to migrate in greater numbers than southern populations.
Wren Pictures, Video Tips Many wrens live in residential areas, perching on tree branches and singing. Hearing a wren call helps locate them, and with some luck, they will continue singing during a photography and/or video.
The stripe on the face makes it easy to identify.
Wrens: Identification
Consider the next two Western wrens presented here, the Rock Wren and Canyon Wren.
Their territory often overlaps, yet identification remains fairly straight forward. The top picture shows the Rock wren, identified by the almost totally cream or buff belly.
The next picture shows a Canyon Wren with the typically the most cream or buff color on the throat. The remainder of the belly shows darker feathers.
Winter wrens inhabit forest areas of the East and Midwest. They often stay low to the ground, hopping along and looking for insects. Small size, loud voice and a dark, patterned belly are good field identification clues.
Geography also helps with wren identification.
Cactus wrens inhabit the southern border regions of North America from Southern California, east to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
Size also differentiates them from the average North American wren. Larger than average, they spend they day foraging for insects and spiders.
Like many wrens, they do no shy away from humans or residential areas. Unlike other wrens, they also eat seeds.
Arizona designated Cactus wrens as the official state bird.
The cheerful and often loud singing of Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) reverberates across many residential areas of eastern North America.
Most of the population resides year round in one location, making them common visitors to back yard feeders. Like the Bewick’s Wren, the tan breasted, brown feathered Carolina Wren sports a white stripe across the eye.
South Carolina designated the Carolina Wren as its official state bird.
The old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest host the Pacific Wren. Like the winter wren of the East, the Pacific Wren ends to hop along the forest floor in search of insects, singing constantly.
People are likely to hear one before they can spot one because the brown feathers blend very well with the forest floor.
There is no mistaking the marsh wren for any other wetlands’ bird. It’s small, loud and constantly moving among the cat tails. They rank as one of the most wide ranging of the wren species in the United States.
Sedge wrens share some overlapping territory with Marsh Wrens in the Midwest and East. However, they live in shrubby covered habitats in fields and meadows rather than in wetlands filled with cat tails.
Mostly they go under the radar in their habitat. Note the cream and buff belly. Marsh wrens also have a more distinct eye brow.
House wrens can also be found in residential neighborhoods from Coast to Coast. The lack of the white eyebrow easily distinguishes it from the Bewick’s wren on the West Coast and the Carolina wren on the East Coast.