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Cactus Wren

Campylorhynchus brunneicapillusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wrens (Troglodytidae)

Cactus Wren Portrait
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General

Cactus Wren: Large wren with black-and-white streaked reddish-brown back, dark crown with distinctive white stripe over eyes, white chin, and heavily spotted white underparts with buff wash on sides and belly. Wings and tail are dark with white bars. Bill is long and slightly decurved. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has fewer and paler breast spots and shorter tail.

Range and Habitat

Cactus Wren: Resident of arid and semi-arid regions in the southwest U.S. and central Mexico. Preferred habitats include deserts dominated by cholla and other succulent cacti, spiny trees, and shrubs, with high temperatures, low humidity, and scarce water.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"guah guah guah guah guah"

Interesting Facts

  • The Cactus Wren builds many nests as decoys but actually lives in just one of them. Additional nests built by males may be used to rear second and even third broods.
  • Nests are built high in thorny trees and shrubs with only a narrow side entrance. In this way the birds take advantage of the plants’ natural defenses for their own protection.
  • It has been the state bird of Arizona since 1931.
  • 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 Cactus 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
Species Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
Length7 - 9 Inches
Wingspan10.75 Inches

Cactus Wren

Cactus Wren: Large wren with black-and-white streaked reddish-brown back, dark crown with distinctive white stripe over eyes, white chin, and heavily spotted white underparts with buff wash on sides and belly. Wings and tail are dark with white bars. Bill is long and slightly decurved.

● Song: "guah guah guah guah guah"

● Foraging & Feeding: Cactus Wren: Eats insects, including ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and wasps; occasionally takes seeds and fruits. Forages by searching under leaves and ground litter; also hunts in bushes and trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Cactus Wren: Two to seven pink eggs, flecked with brown, are laid in a nest made of rootlets, grass, and various stems, lined with feathers, hair and fur, and built in a rock ridge, crevice, burrow, bank, or building. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Cactus Wren: Sage Thrasher is grayer, has plain bars on wings and back, brown-streaked underparts, spots are not clustered on breast, has white on tail corners only, and shorter almost straight bill.

Flight Pattern

Weak direct flight. Holds tail partially spread when flying.
Cactus Wren Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Cactus Wren: Resident of arid and semi-arid regions in the southwest U.S. and central Mexico. Preferred habitats include deserts dominated by cholla and other succulent cacti, spiny trees, and shrubs, with high temperatures, low humidity, and scarce water.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationDeclining in the South
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight1.4 Ounces