Adult male wren singing from lichen-covered perch

Wren

Wrens are surprisingly loud despite their tiny stature. Singing is most important at dawn, since this is when intruding males may attempt to steal territory. Defending males meet their challenger with song and females listen to the vocal contests. If they like what they hear, they may sneak off and seek extra-pair copulations. Wrens are Britain’s most common breeding bird, but their small size and reliance on insects mean they perish easily during prolonged periods of cold weather.

Did you know?
With 8.5 million breeding pairs the wren is the UK's most common bird.

Scientific name: Troglodytes troglodytes

Rank: Species

Common names:

  • Northern wren,
  • Winter wren

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Distribution

Map showing the distribution of the Wren taxa

Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.

The Wren can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, Mediterranean, North America, Russia, United Kingdom, Wales, Ynys-hir nature reserve. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.

Habitats

The following habitats are found across the Wren distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.

Behaviours

Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.

Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web

Conservation Status

Least Concern

  1. EX - Extinct
  2. EW
  3. CR - Threatened
  4. EN - Threatened
  5. VU - Threatened
  6. NT
  7. LC - Least concern

Year assessed: 2009

Classified by: IUCN 3.1

About

The Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) is a very small North American bird and a member of the mainly New World wren family Troglodytidae. It was once lumped with Troglodytes pacificus of western North America and Troglodytes troglodytes of Eurasia under the name Winter Wren.

It breeds in coniferous forests from British Columbia to the Atlantic Ocean. It migrates through and winters across southeastern Canada, the eastern half the United States and (rarely) north-eastern Mexico. Small numbers may be casual in the western United States and Canada.

The scientific name is taken from the Greek word "troglodytes" (from "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropods or to roost.

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Classification

  1. Life
  2. Animals
  3. Vertebrates
  4. Birds
  5. Perching birds
  6. Troglodytidae
  7. Troglodytes
  8. Wren

Sounds

Characters we've followed

BBC News about Wren

  • Harsh winter hit resident birds Resident British birds struggled in the previous harsh winter, while migrating birds benefited from leaving the country, according to the British Trust for Ornithology.

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