Wren - House

Other Breeds

Keeshond   |   Palomino   |   Pig – Pot Bellied   |  

Alternative Name

House Wren Scientific Name: Troglodytes aedon

Basic Info

The House Wren is a stout, proud-looking, little bird. At maturity the average House Wren will measure from four and a half to five inches in length. Its bill has a sharp little point on it, and tends to be on the thin side. Its belly is darker than its top, being a pale grayish color, as opposed to the brownish-gray of the top. The average House Wren will have plumage that ranges from grayish brown to reddish brown. The House Wren has pink legs, with bars of black running down either wing and up its usually straight tail. The House Wren is sometimes confused with the Winter Wren, but they can be easily distinguished by the Winter Wren's short tail and the House Wren's stouter bill.

Health

Keeping House Wrens who live in your backyard happy isn't difficult at all. Make sure to have a suitable place for them to live - a nest box, without a perch, and an entrance no more than an inch wide, will suffice. Keeping a fresh, clean birdbath is always a good idea, as House Wrens love the water. If you keep a garden, they'll stalk it for tasty bugs that may be attacking your plants - so if you have House Wrens living near you, you may want to consider planting a small garden. The personal rewards are many, and the House Wrens won't complain about the influx of bugs. Breeding The breeding season is a time when male House Wrens can really show off, attracting several mates at a time to help raise their progeny. Once they find a mate, and have built a suitable nest in your backyard, the female will lay a small clutch of around six eggs. This takes place during April, ending around July sometime. The eggs are incubated by the female, needing incubation for around 13 days. After hatching, it takes a scant two weeks for the young ones to leave the nest, learning special behavior by mimicking their parents for a while, as they learn how to jump from twig to twig. Typically, the female will produce two broods of young every mating season. The House Wren breeds within the United States and Southern Canada.

Habitat

N/A

Behavior

An energetic little bird, the House Wren will happily make its nest in your backyard and provide pest control for your garden. Found across the United States and migrating to the southern half of America during the winter months, the House Wren is a common visitor to many suburban and rural farming areas. The House Wren should be welcomed into any backyard, both for their song and their wonderful bug-hunting skills! Their diet consists of caterpillars, arachnids, grasshoppers and even some snails. They make for excellent pest control! They are known to frequent gardens, as well as orchards. House Wrens will readily nest in nesting boxes left for them, though they can and often do also nest in most anywhere suitable - an old bucket left out in the sun, a cardboard box, or inside anything snug enough to comfortably house the Wren and its young. The House Wren's nest is essentially a firm base of plant bits like leaves, small pieces of root, twigs, etcetera. The House Wren will pad down the round spots and coat the inside of the nest with soft materials like feathers and bits of cloth it may find in your backyard. The House Wren has a distinctive song that sounds like, 'see-see-see-oodle-oodle'. It rises in the beginning then descends. The House Wren is also quite capable of producing loud sounds that they do not hesitate to emit when approached by potential predators.

Origin

North America

History

The House Wren's name comes from its tendency to build its home in many places within North America. It is known to nest and breed across the middle United States and Southern Canada!

Common Foods

N/A