See all posts in the Birds of Carver County series
The northern house wren (Troglodytes aedon) has adapted its housing preferences towards human locations and especially the little houses that we put up around our homes. Cornell’s Ornithology Lab describes the species as “loquacious,” a dignified adjective meaning “talks a lot.” These characteristics make this little bird familiar to most of the USA between the Canadian border and southern Mexico.
Its prevalence also enables scientists and naturalists to subject its life, biology, behavior and other aspects to studies and dissertations that have produced postgraduate degrees and levels of knowledge that always seem to need just a little more investigation. In 2024, this intensity of study resulted in separating our house wren from all the others south of Oaxaca and the Yucatan who are now the southern house wren. Other wrens in Minnesota include the winter wren, sedge wren, marsh wren and rarely, the Carolina wren.
House Wrens are four to five inches long, with six-inch wings that are stubby that require fast, short distance movements. Males are slightly larger than females, but both sexes are secretive and not seen as much as they are heard. Colors on their backs and head include gray and brown with dark barring on their wings and with chestnut/auburn tail feathers. Their bellies and necks are pale. When singing out in the open in May, the yellow mouth lining is as bright as their song.
Males do most, but not all, of the singing. Like other species of wrens, their songs can’t be described as musical. Instead, “chatters, chutters, churrs or rattles” are more accurate. However, the patterns and variations provide a unique experience for us as we try, usually without success, to locate the small source of the loud calls. One ornithologist gave a phonetic description as “tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-oodle-oodle-oodle.” The Chippewa people’s name for the species means “making a big noise for its size.”
House wrens arrive in Carver County in late April and early May, and males begin looking for suitable cavities left by woodpeckers or nest boxes put up by humans. Their nesting schedule can be six to eight weeks long and they may have two broods. They usually depart our area by the end of September.
The species appears to have loyalty to their nesting site and repeat visits by continuing generations is possible. Males sometimes build several nests to attract more than one mate. They live two to three years, surviving on insects. Grasshoppers, crickets and larval moths and butterflies are favorites for take-home food for nestlings.
According to the All About Birds website, house wrens will sometimes put spider egg sacs in their nest so that when the spiders hatch, they can consume the bugs in the nest!
Their scientific family name is Troglotidae, which came from the Greeks and refers to “creeper into holes or cave dwellers.” Many of us who grew up reading the fiction books by Edgar Rice Burroughs relate “troglodytes” with creatures quite unlike the diminutive house wren. But in our gardens and along the trails and edges of woods, we can feel protected by the hyperactive call from our nearby wrens.
For more information:
- The Sibley Guide to Birds, David Allen Sibley
- Birds of Minnesota, Robert B. Janssen
- Breeding Birds of Minnesota, Pfannmuller, Niemi and Green
- The Audubon Society’s Encyclopedia of North American Birds, John K. Terres
- Birds of the World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Online: All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology LINK Contains several Cool Facts.
- Online: Minnesota Seasons – Exploring Nature in Minnesota LINK This website has a recording made in Carver County at Carver Park Reserve
- Online: Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas
