Wrens

Bewick's Wren

Seattle weather is about as dreary as it gets this week. When isn't raining the sky is overcast and the temperature is stuck in an 24 hour range of 40-45 degrees. That might not sound all that cold, but it's bone-chilling in a way only Seattle can be. Spring is trying hard to break through, and the sparrows are already fussing with their first nest of the summer on the old garage. Despite the weather I'm heading up for a riding lesson today. Seeing some friends and being on a big, warm fragrant beast might cheer me up.

Wrens are secretive little creatures, so when I went out the back door the other day I was surprised to see a Bewick's Wren just hanging out on the deck railing. Maybe he was cold. He even stared me in the eye for a bold second before he flew away. Bewick's are year-round residents in Seattle, but in the winter we hardly know they're there; they don't have anything to sing about. But in early spring I hear them about 4:15 along with the robins.

All the birds (except thankfully the crows) like hiding out in the laurel hedge and overgrown ivy tree in the messy corner of our yard. When I'm out working in the garden I've made myself almost crazy trying to sneak up on the source of some lovely, random singing. Of course they shut up and/or fly away as soon as you get near or run inside to get a binocular.

A wren would fit in the palm of your hand, but the song that comes out of those tiny vocal cords (smaller than a grain of rice) can carry for a quarter of a mile. In Seattle this time of year, a male Bewick's Wren has between 15 and 20 different songs which have been described as "prolonged, varied and expressive, sweet and exquisitely tender." Bewick’s Wrens learn songs first from their fathers, just two or three weeks after hatching. Later on they plagiarize from other males in adjacent territories (i.e. content scraping) until they have a large repertoire.


Unfortunately you don't have Bewick's Wrens in the East. But then you do have all those warblers and cardinals that never cross the Mississippi.

Here's a link with free birdsong from the English countryside called birdsong.radio . Thanks, Candi!