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Bewick's Wren

Thryomanes bewickiiOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wrens (Troglodytidae)

Bewick's Wren Portrait
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General

Bewick's Wren: Small wren with unstreaked, gray to red-brown upperparts and plain white underparts. White eyebrows are conspicuous. Tail is long and white-edged with dark bars. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Bewick's Wren: Resident in British Columbia and the western and southern U.S. Eastern birds spend winters in the Gulf coast states. Preferred habitats include thickets, brush piles, hedgerows, open woodlands, and scrubby areas, often near streams.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chip, chip, chip, de-da-ah, tee-dee"

Interesting Facts

 The Bewick’s Wren was named by Audubon for Thomas Bewick, the English naturalist.

 The male learns its song while still on the parents' territory. It learns songs of neighboring territorial males. The song repertoire developed before the first winter is retained for life.

 The severe declines of this wren in the eastern United States coincided with range expansion of the House Wren. It is suspected that the House Wren was directly responsible for the decline.

 A group of wrens has many collective nouns, including a "chime", "flight", "flock", and "herd" of wrens.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Bewick's Wren
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Wren (Troglodytidae)_blue
Species Thryomanes bewickii
Length5.25 Inches
Wingspan7.25 Inches

Bewick's Wren

Bewick's Wren: Small wren with unstreaked, gray to red-brown upperparts and plain white underparts. White eyebrows are conspicuous. Tail is long and white-edged with dark bars. Bill is long and slightly decurved. Legs and feet are gray. Eastern populations have seriously declined since the 1960s.

● Song: "chip, chip, chip, de-da-ah, tee-dee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Bewick's Wren: Diet consists mostly of insects and spiders; forages on the ground and in trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Bewick's Wren: Four to eleven white eggs, flecked with purple, brown, and gray, are laid in a stick nest lined with leaves, grass, and feathers, and built in almost any available cavity, including a woodpecker hole, tin can, coat pocket or sleeve, basket, tool shed, or brush pile. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Bewick's Wren: House and Rock Wrens lack white eyebrows. Carolina Wren is rust-brown above and buff below. Marsh Wren is smaller and has a streaked back.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats.
Bewicks Wren Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Bewick's Wren: Resident in British Columbia and the western and southern U.S. Eastern birds spend winters in the Gulf coast states. Preferred habitats include thickets, brush piles, hedgerows, open woodlands, and scrubby areas, often near streams.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationDeclining east of Rocky Mountains
MigrationSome migrate
Weight0.4 Ounces