Fifty Birds of Town and City
House Wren (Trogiodytes aedon)
Less than 5 inches long, this tiny bird seems to live right at home with a
man-made house. It breeds throughout the United States, except for the South
Atlantic and Gulf areas, and also nests in southern Canada. It winters in the
southern United States and Mexico.
The rich, bubbling song of the familiar little house wren is one of the sweetest
associations connected with town or suburban life. Its tiny body allows it to creep
into all sorts of nooks and crannies for its insect food. A cavity in a fence post
or porch roof, a wren box, a hole in a tree, will be welcomed as a nesting site.
Their food is grasshoppers, beetles, bugs, spiders, cutworms, ticks, and plant lice.
Recognized universally as Johnny and Jenny wren, welcome neighbors, they still
show peculiarities in their behavior. Jealous of their home areas, wrens sometimes
puncture the eggs of other small species nesting nearby, and Johnny may have two, possibly
three mates at one time.
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