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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Bewick's Wren

Thryomanes bewickii

• rare
• 55 km/h
• Least Concern

Long white eyebrow, twitchy tail, a song with a million regional dialects. Vanished from the East, holds the West.

Population

~7.9 million mature individuals (Audubon/Partners in Flight estimate); declining sharply east of the Mississippi/Great Plains, stable to expanding in the west

Habitat

Dense shrubby understory, chaparral, brushy woodland edges, oak/pine undergrowth, streamside thickets, desert washes/arroyos and canyons, and suburban gardens

Fun fact

Young male Bewick's Wrens learn their loud, variable songs by listening to neighboring adult males rather than their own fathers, producing local song "dialects" — an individual male can sing up to roughly two dozen song-pattern variations.

Range

Western North America, from southern British Columbia and the Great Plains south through the western United States and much of Mexico; a once-widespread population east of the Mississippi River (into Ontario, Pennsylvania, and the Appalachians) has nearly disappeared over the last several decades

Diet

Mostly insects and spiders (beetles, ants, wasps, true bugs, caterpillars, grasshoppers) gleaned from bark, foliage, and the ground, rarely foraging higher than about 3 m; occasionally berries or seeds, and will take suet/sunflower seed at feeders in winter

Size

0.135 m

Wingspan

0.18 m

Lifespan

8 years