Troglodytes hiemalis

It was a beautiful fall morning in the Big Woods, clear and cool with only a gentle breeze. There I sat on a small folding stool against a large white pine close to a tiny woodland stream. I was in full camouflage (in what's called a "leafy suit" plus a facemask and gloves) waiting for a subject to photograph.

Thanks to the dry weather of late summer and early fall, the stream was dry with barely a trickle of water. But the mostly dry channel still attracted birds and other wildlife.

After I'd been there about a half hour a few juncos and chickadees passed on by and then a winter wren appeared –

Troglodytes hiemalis , is the scientific name of the bird we call the winter wren, the smallest of the ten species of wren in North America. It’s song isn’t as loud as that of the Carolina wren nor is it as comfortable around people as the house wren. 

Winter wrens frequent stream banks and other cool shady places where they hunt for insects and spiders among fallen branches, and upturned roots. They’ve often been compared to a mouse as they scurry about seeking food.

Until fairly recently the winter wren was considered the most widespread species of wren, ranging from Newfoundland to the tip of the Aleutian Islands and across Europe and Asia. However, it has recently been decided that the winter wren is confined to eastern North America with the western population now named the Pacific wren and the wren of Europe and Asia (where it is the only wren) named the Eurasian wren.

In spring and early summer male winter wrens produce a long bubbly song that, because they’re rather secretive, is often the only indication that the wrens are nearby.

In our area we may see winter wrens throughout the year. Northern birds migrate south as winter sets in so its hard to say whether the birds we see in the winter are migrants or permanent residents.

The next time you’re in an area dominated by evergreens with a small stream running through it, sit still or stand quietly for a while and you may glimpse a mousy brown creature scampering along the ground –

Take a good look, it may well be a winter wren.