Wrens

I always enjoy being in the company of wrens. I find them bold, boisterous, inquisitive, yet often elusive. These birds will fiercely defend nesting territories. Even the smallest members of this clan are a force to be reckoned with, terrorizing birds much larger than themselves.

Science believes that all wrens (family Troglodytidae) originated in the New World. When wren is mentioned in Old World literature, it’s the Winter Wren (now called Eurasian Wren) that is being referred to. The Winter Wren is a circumpolar species, whose ancestors found their way from the Americas to the Eurasian continent long ago. Since 2010 science has split the Winter Wren into three species: the Eurasian Wren, the Pacific Wren in western North America, and the Winter Wren in eastern North America. I’m looking forward to my first meeting with any of these wrens.

Birds from this clan often have some of the more complex songs in the bird world. Included in this gallery are images of Bewick’s Wren, Carolina Wren, Cactus Wren, Canyon Wren, House Wren, Marsh Wren, Rock Wren, and Sedge Wren. Following my February 2017 seagoing science expedition to the Archipiélago de Revillagigedo, I added the Socorro Wren and the Clarión Wren.