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Lifespan, longevity, and ageing

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Maximum longevity: 7 years
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The Brothers Grimm have a tale about winter wrens. They say that one day all the birds gathered together in order to determine who ought to be king. Every type of bird showed up, including a tiny one that didn’t even have a name. They decided they would settle the matter by seeing who could fly the highest, so they all set off and began ascending. The little birds quit first, then the geese and swans, and finally the eagle was all alone. Seeing he was the highest, he relaxed and began sinking back down. As soon as he started to descend, the tiny, nameless bird popped out of his hiding place in the eagle’s feathers and began his flight. Since he wasn’t tired, he reached heaven easily, and then came back down to earth, crying out, “I am King!” the whole way. All the birds were upset that such a tiny bird had won the contest, so they changed the rules: the bird which got lowest in the ground won the monarchy contest. Most birds tried scratching their own holes, but the nameless bird simply crawled down into a mouse hole. As soon as he was down the hole, he cried out again, “I am King! I am King!” The birds were all horrified again, but they were too tired from all the flying and digging to do anything about it. They assigned the owl to watch over the mouse hole while the rest went home for the night. The owl gradually fell asleep and the tiny bird snuck out. Knowing he isn’t welcome, he hides in the brush to this day. The owl, so ashamed by his failure at guarding the mouse hole, now only comes out at night, and he takes out his frustration by eating mice. The other birds mock the little bird by calling him “King of the Hedges,” which in German is Zaunkonig, the common name for Troglodytes troglodytes.

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Behavior

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Male winter wrens use song to establish and maintain their territories. Their songs are variable and fast, using between 15 and 40 notes per second, and the entire song lasts 5 to 10 seconds. They are impressively loud. Winter wrens use ten times as much power to deliver their songs as roosters would if they weighed the same amount. They also use other calls, which are only one or two notes.

Male winter wrens listen to the songs of other wrens in order to know who and where they are. Their songs are high-pitched, averaging around 5500 hertz, so they are subject to a lot of deterioration as they travel farther from the singing wren. To avoid some of this degradation, wrens choose high places from which to sing so their messages will travel farther with less degradation of the signal. These perches are generally 1 to 4 meters high. Winter wrens also use singing perches to listen for the songs of other males. Winter wrens seem to be able to understand and respond to even highly degraded signals from other male winter wrens. They can determine how degraded the song is, indicating to the listener how far away the singer is. Winter wrens react more aggressively when they know the singer is close rather than if they know he is far away.

Singing is most important just before and after dawn. This is the time when intruding males will attempt to steal territory so a defending male must be ready to meet his challenger with a song. Dominance is determined by who sings the best songs. Females listen to these contests and, if they like the intruder’s song, they may sneak off afterward and seek extra-pair copulations. Males who have defended their territory recently sing more than males who have not. However, they sing less in cold weather, especially after cold nights.

Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic

Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Conservation Status

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With 36,000,000 individuals and no serious trends of declining populations, winter wrens are not considered a species of concern. Populations of winter wrens in Britain are increasing.

US Migratory Bird Act: protected

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Benefits

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There are no known adverse effects of winter wrens on humans.

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Benefits

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Because winter wrens are small, insectivorous birds, they are affected by cold weather more than many other bird species. Their population levels drop when temperatures are consistently too low. As a result they are used as indicators of changing climate. They may help to control pest populations in areas of human habitation.

Positive Impacts: research and education; controls pest population

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Associations

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Winter wrens are important members of the ecosystem because they eat insects and are food for larger predators. In addition to these roles, they are parasitized by both invertebrates and vertebrates. They suffer from feather mites of the family Proctophyllodidae, which includes the genera Proctophyllodes and Monojoubertia. They are subject to nest parasitism by common cuckoos, Cuculus canorus.

Commensal/Parasitic Species:

  • feather mites (Proctophyllodes)
  • feather mites (Monojoubertia)
  • common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus)
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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Trophic Strategy

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Winter wrens are insectivores that eat a wide variety of invertebrate prey. They hunt for food on the ground. In addition to insects and their larvae, they also regularly consume millipedes and spiders. If they are in riparian areas they may prey on aquatic invertebrates. Their small size allows them to forage in places where other insectivorous birds cannot successfully forage.

Animal Foods: insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods; aquatic crustaceans

Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore , Eats non-insect arthropods)

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Distribution

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Winter wrens have a range of approximately 5,430,000 square kilometers with about 36,000,000 individuals. They are found in the temperate northern hemisphere, including Europe, much of Asia, and North America. There are some gaps in this range, including a large part of Turkmenistan. Winter wrens are most common in eastern and western North America and Eurasia.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); mediterranean sea (Native )

Other Geographic Terms: holarctic

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Habitat

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Winter wrens are found in a wide range of habitats. They prefer deciduous forests, but they are also common in pastures, farms, scrub forests, coniferous forests, towns, and villages. They also occur on heath, grasslands, marshes, and in croplands. Winter wrens prefer thick vegetation close to the ground.

Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial

Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; scrub forest ; mountains

Wetlands: marsh

Other Habitat Features: urban ; suburban ; agricultural ; riparian

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Life Expectancy

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Winter wrens typically live only two years, but birds which survive longer than two years can still be reproductively active. Breeding males have been found up to 4 years old. The longest recorded lifespan in the wild was 6 years and 8 months.

Average lifespan
Status: wild:
6.75 years.

Average lifespan
Status: wild:
2 years.

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Tanya Dewey, Animal Diversity Web
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Morphology

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Winter wrens are tiny brown birds with dark barring on their wings, tails, and ventral surfaces. They have a light stripe just above their eyes and their throats are lighter than the rest of their bodies. Juveniles are darker than adults and the sexes look the same. They have a narrow bill and a short tail which usually points upward.

Winter wrens have round, short wings with strong distal feathers. These features are adaptations to living in dense vegetation. Round, short wings require less effort and room to suddenly take off or stop and they are easier to maneuver within obstacles. Having heavier, stronger feathers at the ends of their wings protects them from breakage when they inevitably smack something in their crowded environment.

Winter wrens sexes can be distinguished during the breeding season by the presence of either a brood patch (female) or a cloacal protuberance (male). Age can be determined by the number of spots on their fourth primaries.

A species' average basal metabolic rate is influenced by several factors, including size and plumage color. Birds which eat mainly invertebrate prey generally have intermediate basal metabolic rates, compared to similar birds eating different diets. Temperate species average higher BMRs than tropical species and flighted birds are higher than flightless ones. Winter wrens average 0.60 kJ/h basal metabolic rate.

Range mass: 8 to 12 g.

Range length: 8 to 12 cm.

Range wingspan: 12 to 16 cm.

Average basal metabolic rate: 0.60 kJ/h cm3.O2/g/hr.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Associations

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Domestic cats, which are ubiquitous anywhere humans exist, are major predators of native animals, including winter wrens. Northern harriers (Circus cyaneus) eat adult wrens. Nests are preyed on by many animals, including crows and jays and weasels. Interestingly, crows and jays destroy empty nests in addition to ones containing eggs or nestlings.

Winter wrens have a few adaptations to counteract possible attacks by predators or nest parasites. Cryptic coloration makes them and their nests hard to find, and their habit of building several nests makes the real nest harder to locate. They also avoid nesting near established nests. Despite these countermeasures, cuckoos in Germany heavily parasitize them.

Known Predators:

  • domestic cats (Felis catus)
  • Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius)
  • common magpies (Pica pica)
  • least weasels (Mustela nivalis)
  • northern harriers (Circus cyaneus)

Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Tanya Dewey, Animal Diversity Web
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Reproduction

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Breeding season is mid-March to mid-August. Males either return each year to their previous breeding territory or remain on site year-round. Males in poor territories generally only keep one mate, but males in better areas can be polygamous. Males establish territories by singing and displaying and they defend these territories very aggressively against intruding males. Familiarity with their sites allows them to know the best places for resources and food. They build several nests on their territories, which can be used for shelter or by a mate forming a nest. Males build up to twelve nests, but average six.

Females are as not faithful to the same locations year after year. Unlike males, which defend territories, females rely on broader home ranges which they do not defend. They search in their range for a suitable male. Even when a female joins a male, only the male will defend the territory.

Males initially attract females with songs. When a female arrives, the male will give her a tour of all the cock nests in his territory. While giving her the tour, he displays in and around his nests. Females typically examine several nests before choosing and prefer males whose territories contain more nests. When a female chooses one, she will settle in and provide the nest with feathers and hair to make it suitable for brooding. If her nest is destroyed by a predator, she will usually abandon her mate and his territory and find a new mate. Polygamous males continue to try to attract females while his established mate or mates try to raise their broods. Males can have up to 9 mates.

Older males often begin building nests earlier than younger ones, allowing them to build more nests. Females do not seem to mate selectively with older males, however, because too many factors determine how many nests a male has on his territory. Some males have more nest building ability than others and this ability can outweigh age benefits when it comes to accruing nests.

Mating System: monogamous ; polygynous

Males build nests (called cock nests) of anything they find, including moss, feathers, twigs and grass. They often build it in a hole which may have been dug by the wren or found. They may also build on branches. Nests are domed and have an entrance hole. Males begin building cock nests up to a month before females begin laying eggs. Individual males vary widely in when they begin building, with the earliest building two months before the latest. After settling in to a nest site, females produce about 5 to 7 eggs, which are white with reddish brown spots. Eggs are 1.3 grams in weight of which 6% is shell.

Breeding interval: Winter wrens breed once yearly.

Breeding season: Breeding season is from mid-March to mid-August.

Range eggs per season: 1 to 9.

Average eggs per season: 5-7.

Range time to hatching: 16 to 18 days.

Range fledging age: 15 to 18 days.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.

Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.

Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous

Females incubate the eggs and the young hatch at an altricial stage with some downy feathers. Raising the brood is generally the female’s responsibility, but some males help. Monogamous males spend more time on domestic activities, while polygamous males continue to spend time on singing and courting females. Some males don't care the their young at all, some males provide an equal amount of care as females. Males are capable of raising broods on their own.

Parental Investment: altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female)

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Dakota, A. 2009. "Troglodytes troglodytes" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Troglodytes_troglodytes.html
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Status in Egypt

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Accidental visitor.

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Brief Summary

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This small perky little bird is one of the most common birds in the Netherlands. It may be small but it is extremely boisterous. In fact, you hear wrens more often than you see them. They are forest birds, but will make their nests anywhere where you find trees. Hundreds nest in gardens, parks, woods and even in the dunes nowadays. They eat small animals, such as spiders and insects. But when scarse, they easily switch to seeds and berries.
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One Species at a Time Podcast

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Every morning when he walks the dog, retired professor of natural history Peter Slater can identify as many as thirty birds by their song alone. On a walk in a Scottish town with Ari Daniel Shapiro, Slater explains what two common songsters, the chaffinch and winter wren, are singing about, and how even city dwellers can learn to “bird by ear” in their own neighborhoods, with rewarding results. Listen to the podcast on the EOL Learning + Education website where you can meet the featured scientist and find intriguing extras.
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Eurasian wren

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The Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) or northern wren is a very small insectivorous bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren. It has a very short tail which is often held erect, a short neck and a relatively long thin bill. It is russet brown above, paler buff-brown below and has a cream buff supercilium. The sexes are alike.

The species was once lumped with Troglodytes hiemalis of eastern North America and Troglodytes pacificus of western North America as the winter wren. The Eurasian wren occurs in Europe and across the Palearctic – including a belt of Asia from northern Iran and Afghanistan across to Japan. It is migratory in only the northern parts of its range.[3] It is also highly polygynous, an unusual mating system for passerines.

Eurasian wren in Germany

The scientific name is taken from the Greek word "troglodytes" (from τρώγλη troglē "hole", and δῠ́ειν dyein, "creep"), meaning "hole-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropods or to roost. The taxonomy of the genus Troglodytes is currently unresolved, as recent molecular studies have suggested that Cistothorus spp. and Thryorchilus spp. are within the clade currently defined by Troglodytes.[4][5]

Taxonomy

The Eurasian wren was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla troglodytes.[6] The specific epithet is from the Ancient Greek trōglodutēs meaning "cave-dweller".[7] In 1555 the German naturalist Conrad Gessner had used the Latin name Passer troglodyte for the Eurasian wren in his Historiae animalium.[8] The species is now placed in the genus Troglodytes that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1809.[9]

The Eurasian wren was formerly considered conspecific with two North American species: the winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) and the Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus).[10][11] Some ornithologists place the Eurasian wren, the winter wren and the Pacific wren in a separate genus Nannus that was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Gustaf Johan Billberg in 1828 with the Eurasian wren as the type species.[4][12][13][14]

It was estimated that Troglodytes pacificus and Troglodytes troglodytes last shared a common ancestor approximately 4.3 million years ago, long before the glacial cycles of the Pleistocene, thought to have promoted speciation in many avian lineages inhabiting the boreal forest of North America.[15]

There are 28 recognised subspecies of this taxonomically complex bird.[10] The disputed subspecies T. t. orii, the Daito wren, became extinct around 1940 – if it was indeed a valid taxon and not merely based on an anomaly.[16] Thus in Scotland, in addition to the typical bird T. t. indigenus, there are three distinct insular subspecies: one, T. t. hirtensis, is confined to the island of St Kilda; another, T. t. zetlandicus, to the Shetland Islands; and the third, T. t. fridariensis, to Fair Isle. The St Kilda wren is greyer above, whiter beneath, with more abundant bars on the back; the Shetland wren and Fair Isle wren are darker.[17]

Description

The Eurasian wren is a plump, sturdy bird with rounded wings and a short tail, which is usually held cocked up. The adult bird is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) in length and has a wingspan of 13–17 cm (5.1–6.7 in).[18] It weighs around 10 g (0.35 oz).[19] It is rufous brown above, greyer beneath, and indistinctly barred with darker brown and grey, even on the wings and tail. The bill is dark brown and the legs are pale brown, the feet having strong claws and a large hind toe. Young birds are less distinctly barred and have mottled underparts.[17] The plumage is subject to considerable variation, and where populations have been isolated, the variation has become fixed in one minor form or another.

Vocalizations

Поющий орешек (Крапивник, Troglodytes troglodytes), Битцевский лес.jpg
song

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The most common call is a sharp, repeated "tic-tic-tic", similar but faster and with less isolated notes compared to that of a robin. When the bird is annoyed or excited, its call runs into an emphatic churr, not unlike clockwork running down.[17] The song is a gushing burst of sweet music, clear, shrill and emphatic. The male has remarkably long and complex vocalizations, with a series of tinkling trills one after the other for seconds on end. The bird has an enormous voice for its size, ten times louder, weight for weight, than a cockerel. The song begins with a few preliminary notes, then runs into a trill, slightly ascending, and ends in full clear notes or another trill. At any season the song may be heard, though it is most noticeable during spring. Despite its generally mouse-like behaviour, the male may sing from an exposed low perch as its whole body quivers from the effort. Its song may sometimes be confused with that of the dunnock, which has a warble that is shorter and weaker. The wren's song also incorporates repeated trill sounds while the dunnock's does not.[20]

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies Troglodytes troglodytes nipalensis with its very dark plumage in Sikkim, India[21]

The Eurasian wren is a Palearctic species. The nominate race breeds in Europe as far north as 67°N in Norway and 64°N in Sweden, Finland and Russia.[17][22] The bird's southern limit is northern Spain, southern France, Italy, Sicily and southern Russia. It also breeds in Western Asia as far east as Syria. It is replaced by other races in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland, the Hebrides, and St Kilda, and further south in northwestern Africa, Spain and Portugal, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Crete and Cyprus. Other races also occur in southern Russia and Japan.[17]

It occupies a great variety of habitats, typically any kind of cultivated or uncultivated area with bushes and low ground cover; gardens, hedgerows, thickets, plantations, woodland and reed beds. It inhabits more open locations with clumps of brambles or gorse, rough pasture, moorland, boulder-strewn slopes, rocky coasts and sea cliffs.[17]

Behaviour and ecology

Eurasian wren singing, Texel, Netherlands

The wren is an ever-active bird, constantly on the move foraging for insects, in the open or among thick vegetation. It moves with quick jerks, probing into crevices, examining old masonry, hopping onto fallen logs and delving down among them. It sometimes moves higher in the canopy, but for the most part stays near the ground, often being flushed from under overhangs on banks. Sometimes it hops up the lower part of tree trunks, behaving like a miniature nuthatch. Occasionally it flits away, its short flights swift and direct but not sustained, its tiny round wings whirring as it flies.[17]

This small, stump-tailed wren is almost as familiar in Europe as the robin. It is mouse-like, easily lost sight of when it is hunting for food, but is found everywhere from the tops of the highest moors to the sea coast.

It is a bird of the uplands even in winter, vanishing into the heather when snow lies thick above, a troglodyte indeed. It frequents gardens and farms, but it is quite as abundant in thick woods and in reed-beds.[23]

At night, usually in winter, it often roosts, true to its scientific name, in dark retreats, snug holes and even old nests. In hard weather, it may do so in parties, consisting of either the family or of many individuals gathered together for warmth.

Breeding

Eggs
Cuculus canorus canorus in a spawn of Troglodytes troglodytes - MHNT
Adult with four hatchlings; one has just been fed a spider or harvestman

In most of northern Europe and Asia, it nests mostly in coniferous forests, where it is often identified by its long and exuberant song. Although it is an insectivore, it can remain in moderately cold and even snowy climates by foraging for insects on substrates such as bark and fallen logs. The male wren builds several nests in his territory; these are called "cock nests" but are never lined until the female chooses one to use. The number of nests on a territory influences the female's choice of mate; she preferentially mates with a male that had constructed numerous nests.[24] Courtship includes display and posturing by the male. He sings with wings and tail half open, or with them drooping, sometimes with one wing extended, or the wings may be raised and lowered several times in quick succession.[17]

The neatly-domed nest has a side entrance and is built of grass, moss, lichen and dead leaves, whatever is available locally. It is often tucked into a hole in a wall or tree trunk or a crack in a rock, but it is often built in brambles, a bush or a hedge, among ivy on a bank, in thatch, or in abandoned bird's nests such as those of the house sparrow, swallow, house martin and dipper. On making her selection, the female wren lines the nest generously with feathers.[17]

A clutch of five or six (range three to eleven) eggs are laid from April onwards. These average 16.6 by 12.7 mm (0.65 by 0.50 in) and are white with variable amounts of reddish-brown speckles, mostly on the broad end. The female alone incubates these, and they hatch after 14 to 15 days. The young are fed on insects, spiders and other small invertebrates; there is no record of the male feeding the young in the nest, but he does do so after they have fledged, which happens after about 16 days. There are usually two broods.[17]

Wrens are highly polygamous, that is to say a male can have, at any one time, more than one female with an active nest on his territory. An active nest is one in which there are eggs or nestlings. A male has been recorded with four females breeding on his territory.[25] Bigamy and trigamy are the most common forms of polygamy.

Food and feeding

Insects form the bulk of the diet; these are chiefly the larvae of butterflies and moths, such as geometer moths and owlet moths, as well as beetle larvae, fly larvae, caddisfly larvae and aphids. Other dietary items include spiders, and some seeds are also taken. The young are largely fed on moth larvae, with caterpillars of the cabbage moth and crane fly larvae having been identified.[17]

Relationship with humans

Wren on a British farthing coin
Wrens on a stamp from the Faroe Islands

In European folklore, the wren is the king of the birds, according to a fable attributed to Aesop by Plutarch,[26] when the eagle and the wren strove to fly the highest, the wren rested on the eagle's back, and when the eagle tired, the wren flew out above him. Thus, Plutarch implied, the wren proved that cleverness is better than strength. The wren's majesty is recognized in such stories as the Grimm Brothers' The Willow-Wren and the Bear. Aristotle[27] and Plutarch called the wren basileus (king) and basiliskos (little king). In German, the wren is called Zaunkönig (king of the fence). An old German name was “Schneekönig” (snow king), and in Dutch, it is “winterkoning” (winter king), which all refer to king. In Japan, the wren is labelled king of the winds, and the myth of The Wren Among the Hawks sees the wren successfully hunt a boar that the hawks could not, by flying into its ear and driving it mad.[28]

It was a sacred bird to the Druids, who considered it "king of all birds",[29] and used its musical notes for divination. The shape-shifting Fairy Queen took the form of a wren, known as "Jenny Wren" in nursery rhymes. A wren's feather was thought to be a charm against disaster or drowning.

The wren also features in the legend of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who supposedly was betrayed by the noisy bird as he attempted to hide from his enemies. Traditionally, St. Stephen's Day (26 December) has been commemorated by Hunting the Wren, wherein young wrenboys would catch the bird and then ritually parade it around town, as described in the traditional "Wren Song". The Wren, the Wren, the king of all birds, St. Stephen's day was caught in the furze. Although he is little, his family's great, I pray you, good landlady, give us a treat.[30] The tradition, and the significance of the wren as a symbol and sacrifice of the old year, is discussed in Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough.[31]

According to Suetonius, the assassination of Julius Caesar was foretold by an unfortunate wren. On the day before the Ides of March, a wren was seen being pursued in a frenzy by various other birds. With a conspicuous sprig of laurel clamped in its beak, the wren flew desperately into the Roman Senate, but there its pursuers overtook it and tore it to pieces.[32]

Cultural depictions

  • In The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Limmershin, the winter wren (actually the Pacific wren), who was once thought of as the same species as the Eurasian wren, is the narrator of "The White Seal" story.[33]
  • Wrens have been featured on stamps from Albania, Alderney, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Britain, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Netherlands, San Marino, the United States of America, and The Vatican.[34]
  • The Wren is one of the animals of the Celtic zodiac.[35]
  • The old British farthing coin featured a wren on the reverse side from 1937 to 1960. The wren was chosen because it was thought of as Britain's smallest bird.[36]

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International. 2018. Troglodytes troglodytes. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T103883277A132200296. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T103883277A132200296.en. Downloaded on 09 June 2021.
  2. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 421.
  3. ^ Brewer, David; Mackay, Barry Kent (2001). Wrens, Dippers and Thrashers. Christopher Helm. ISBN 1-873403-95-X.
  4. ^ a b Rice, Nathan H.; Peterson, A. Townsend; Escalona-Segura, Griselda (1999). "Phylogenetic patterns in montane Troglodytes wrens" (PDF). The Condor. 101 (2): 446–451. doi:10.2307/1370013. hdl:1808/16635. JSTOR 1370013.
  5. ^ Martínez Gómez, Juan E.; Barber, Bruian R.; Peterson, A. Townsend (2005). "Phylogenetic position and generic placement of the Socorro Wren (Thryomanes sissonii)". Auk. 12 (1): 50–56. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122[0050:PPAGPO]2.0.CO;2.
  6. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturæ per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Volume 1 (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 188.
  7. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 391. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. ^ Gesner, Conrad (1555). Historiae animalium liber III qui est de auium natura. Adiecti sunt ab initio indices alphabetici decem super nominibus auium in totidem linguis diuersis: & ante illos enumeratio auium eo ordiné quo in hoc volumine continentur (in Latin). Zurich: Froschauer. pp. 625–627.
  9. ^ Vieillot, Louis Jean Pierre (1809). Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale : contenant un grand nombre d'espèces décrites ou figurées pour la première fois (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Desray. p. 52. Dated 1807 on title page but not published until 1809.
  10. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, hyliotas, wrens & gnatcatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  11. ^ Chesser, R Terry; Banks, Richard C; Barker, F Keith; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L; Kratter, Andrew W; Lovette, Irby J; Rasmussen, Pamela C; Remsen, JV Jr; Rising, James D; Stotz, Douglas F; Winker, Kevin (2010). "Fifty-First Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds". The Auk. 127 (3): 726–744 [734–735]. doi:10.1525/auk.2010.127.4.966.
  12. ^ Billberg, Gustav Johan (1828). Synopsis faunae Scandinaviae (in Latin). Vol. 1, Pars 2 Aves. Holmiae [Stockholm]: Caroli Deleen. p. 57.
  13. ^ Albrecht, F.; Hering, J.; Fuchs, E.; Illera, J.C.; Ihlow, F.; Shannon, T.J.; Collinson, J.M.; Wink, M.; Martens, J.; Päckert, M. (2020). "Phylogeny of the Eurasian Wren Nannus troglodytes (Aves: Passeriformes: Troglodytidae) reveals deep and complex diversification patterns of Ibero-Maghrebian and Cyrenaican populations". PLOS ONE. 15 (3): e0230151. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1530151A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230151. PMC 7082076. PMID 32191719.
  14. ^ Barker, Frederick Keith (2017). Molecular phylogenetics of the wrens and allies (Passeriformes, Certhioidea), with comments on the relationships of Ferminia. American Museum novitates, no. 3887. New York: American Museum of Natural History. hdl:2246/6816.
  15. ^ Weir, J. T.; Schluter, D. (2004). "Ice sheets promote speciation in boreal birds". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 271 (1551): 1881–1887. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2803. PMC 1691815. PMID 15347509.
  16. ^ Yamashina, Yoshimaro (1938): A new subspecies of Troglodytes troglodytes from the Borodino Islands. Tori 10: 227–228.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Witherby, H.F., ed. (1943). Handbook of British Birds. Vol. 2: Warblers to Owls. H.F. and G. Witherby. pp. 213–219.
  18. ^ Cramp 1988, p. 525.
  19. ^ Cramp 1988, p. 541.
  20. ^ del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Christie, D. (2005) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 10: Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-72-5.
  21. ^ Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Anderton, John C. (2012). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2: Attributes and Status (2nd ed.). Washington D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Lynx Edicions. p. 353. ISBN 978-84-96553-87-3.
  22. ^ Peterson, R.; Mountfort, G.; Hollom, P.A.D. 1965. A Field Guild to the Birds of Britain and Europe. Collins
  23. ^ BBC.co.uk
  24. ^ Evans, Matthew R.; Burn, Joe L. (1966). "An experimental analysis of mate choice in the wren: a monomorphic, polygynous passerine". Behavioral Ecology. 7 (1): 101–108. doi:10.1093/beheco/7.1.101.
  25. ^ Burn J. L., 1996, Polygyny and the Wren, D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford
  26. ^ Plutarch, Political Precepts xii.806e; Laura Gibb, tr. Aesop's Fable #238; Plutarch's brief account is referenced by Erasmus, Adages iii.7.1, accounting for the hostility of the eagle ("a creature at war with everyone") towards the wren
  27. ^ Aristotle, The History of Animals, IX.11.
  28. ^ Yanagita, Kunio (1942). Japanese Folk Tales. Translated by Hagin Meyer, Fanny. pp. 5–6.
  29. ^ Lawrence, Elizabeth (1997). Hunting the Wren. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. p. 26. ISBN 0870499602.
  30. ^ Hymns and Carols of Christmas on-line Text retrieved 20 November 2007
  31. ^ Frazer, James George (1890). The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (two vols). Macmillan, 1890. Full text (HTML) retrieved 20 November 2007
  32. ^ Suetonius (1890). The Lives of the Twelve Caesars. p. 50. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
  33. ^ The Jungle Book
  34. ^ "Winter wren Troglodytes troglodytes". bird-stamps.org. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  35. ^ Venefica, Avia (16 December 2017). "Celtic animal signs". Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  36. ^ Cavendish, Richard (12 December 2010). "The Farthing's Last Day". History Today. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
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Eurasian wren: Brief Summary

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The Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) or northern wren is a very small insectivorous bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren. It has a very short tail which is often held erect, a short neck and a relatively long thin bill. It is russet brown above, paler buff-brown below and has a cream buff supercilium. The sexes are alike.

The species was once lumped with Troglodytes hiemalis of eastern North America and Troglodytes pacificus of western North America as the winter wren. The Eurasian wren occurs in Europe and across the Palearctic – including a belt of Asia from northern Iran and Afghanistan across to Japan. It is migratory in only the northern parts of its range. It is also highly polygynous, an unusual mating system for passerines.

Eurasian wren in Germany

The scientific name is taken from the Greek word "troglodytes" (from τρώγλη troglē "hole", and δῠ́ειν dyein, "creep"), meaning "hole-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropods or to roost. The taxonomy of the genus Troglodytes is currently unresolved, as recent molecular studies have suggested that Cistothorus spp. and Thryorchilus spp. are within the clade currently defined by Troglodytes.

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