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Winter Wren

Status Uncommon in summer, rare in winter. Breeds. Spring arrivals are readily detected in places where none had wintered, usually in the second half of April (average 20 April, earliest 31 March). It occurs regularly from late April to November throughout the coniferous wooded areas, particularly those with damp, mossy terrain, and it is also partial to slashings in clearings and forest openings. Winter records are numerous, with single birds seen on many Christmas Bird Counts and several records of lingering wrens in January. The latest date is 6 February 1975 at Lockeport, which suggests that few survive the height of winter, but birds on Bon Portage Island on 6 March 1960 and 30 March 1961 could have survived in that densely forested site.

Description Length: 11-12 cm. Adults: Upperparts cinnamon-brown; wings and short, stubby tail barred with blackish gray; back also barred with faint gray; a light buff line over the eye; underparts light buff, the flanks and belly heavily barred with blackish gray.

Breeding Nest: Bulky and compact, composed of fine twigs, moss and strips of bark, lined with fine grasses and feathers. Usually placed under the roots of an old stump or hidden in the mossy bank of a sluggish stream or other wet places. Eggs: 5-7; white or creamy white, finely and sparingly speckled with reddish brown. Piers (1892b) describes a nest and set of six eggs he collected at Kidston Lake in Halifax County on 22 May 1891. It was embedded in the damp sphagnum moss on a boulder over which water was dripping, and sparingly lined with grass and feathers. On 11 June 1894 another nest that contained young was found close to the same location (Piers 1897). Near Fisher Lake, Annapolis County, Rand (1930) located a nest among the upturned roots of a hemlock in well shaded, moss-grown woods on 3 August 1928; the late date suggests a second or even third nesting attempt.

Range Breeds from the Aleutian Islands, southern Alaska, northern British Columbia, northern Ontario, central Quebec, and Newfoundland, south to the southern Appalachians, central Michigan and central California. Winters mainly in the United States south to Florida and the Gulf Coast; in the west from the Aleutian Islands to southern California. Found also in the Old World.

Remarks This little brown bird is far more often heard than seen. A denizen of wet, mossy, tangled undergrowth, he pours forth a song remarkable for its volume, duration and variation, coming as it does from so small a throat. When the song is heard in its fullness the listener may try to find the performer but will seldom succeed because, at his approach, the song stops. A fairly long interlude will occur and then the song will be heard again, coming from another part of the bird's tangled retreat, the invasion of which the singer seems to fear. This tiny, dark brown bird has a stubby tail which it holds straight up. Its smaller size, shorter tail and more heavily barred belly distinguish it from the rare House Wren.