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Sedge Wren

Cistothorus platensisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wrens (Troglodytidae)

Sedge Wren Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Sedge Wren: Small wren with white-streaked, brown upperparts and pale buff underparts. Eyebrows are pale brown. Bill is short and slightly decurved. Tail is short and barred. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Sedge Wren: Breeds in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick south to Kansas, Missouri, and Delaware. Spends winters north to southern Illinois and Virginia. Found in dense marshlands and grasslands.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chip-chip"

Interesting Facts

 The Sedge Wren is most often seen as it is flushed from grass and flies off, only to drop from view a few feet away.

 It is also known as the Short-billed Marsh Wren and the Grass Wren. There are about 20 different subspecies which are found across most of the Americas. Some of these forms may be separate species.

 The male often builds several unused nests in his territory; he may puncture the eggs of other birds nesting nearby.

 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 Sedge 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 Cistothorus platensis
Length4.5 Inches
Wingspan5.75 Inches

Sedge Wren

Sedge Wren: Small wren with white-streaked, brown upperparts and pale buff underparts. Eyebrows are pale brown. Tail is short and barred. Bill is short and the legs and feet are pink. One of the most nomadic territorial birds. In any area it may be abundant one year, absent the next.

● Song: "chip-chip"

● Foraging & Feeding: Sedge Wren: Eats mostly insects and spiders; forages while scampering on the ground in wet meadows and in low brush.

● Breeding & nesting: Sedge Wren: Four to eight white eggs are laid in a nest made of stems, grass, and sedges, lined with plant down, feathers, and fur, and built up to 2 feet above the ground in grass. Incubation ranges from 12 to14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Sedge Wren: Marsh Wren is larger, darker, and browner overall, with longer bill, dark crown, and unbarred rufous rump.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flight with shallow, rapid wing beats, alternating serveral wing strokes with wings being drawn to sides, repeatedly.
Sedge Wren Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Sedge Wren: Breeds in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick south to Kansas, Missouri, and Delaware. Spends winters north to southern Illinois and Virginia. Found in dense marshlands and grasslands.
BreedingPolygamous
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.3 Ounces