Bird Profile: Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren

animals.nationalgeographic.com

I remember my first week at Warren Wilson as a transfer living in Dorland. I would look out my third-floor window into the trees and search endlessly for that loud loud bird I was hearing. It was so loud I felt like it must have been close to my window, practically sitting on my window sill. One day I finally located the bird in the trees. He was so small and nondescript, but he sure could project his song!

Click HERE to listen to the Carolina Wren song and calls (click on the Songs tab).

The Carolina Wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus, is a common resident here on campus. They chatter at each other in the shrubs near Sunderland, in the forest near the pedestrian bridge, and in the Devil's Walkingstick trees near the science buildings. They sing over your heads while you eat on Cowpie lawn in the spring! Carolina Wren is the South Carolina state bird, though they live in the entire eastern third of the US down into Mexico. They form monogamous pairs, meaning they mate for life!

How to Identify:

en.wikipedia.org

Carolina Wrens are about the size of a sparrow and are rusty brown in color, with a buffy/beige belly and whitish throat. They have a striking white "eyebrow" stripe (this is called the supercilium). If you look closely, you can see thin dark stripes on the feathers of the wings and tail. Their posture is also a great way to tell if it is a Carolina Wren. They often look puffy and round with their tail sticking straight up.

For more information on Carolina Wrens, like what they eat and how many eggs they lay per nest, go to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website "All About Birds".

All information from http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Carolina_Wren/id