Size: 4(1/2)-5(1/2)”
Range: Canada south to Arizona, Northern Texas, Tennessee and North Georgia
Nest: Cavity of tree
Eggs per clutch: 5 to 8
Food: insects and invertebrates

Description

The House Wren is a small sized bird. The back side, tail and wings of the house wren are a dusky brown. The underneath is a paler brown. Often the wren’s short tail is cocked over its back. The house wren has a beautiful, bubbly song.

Feeding

The house wren feeds upon insects and invertebrates, such as spiders, snails, and millipedes.

Habitat

The range of the house wren includes British Columbia east to New Brunswick, and south to Arizona and east to Georgia. The house wren can be found along forest edges, swamps, fields, shrubby areas, and suburban parks. House wrens often nest in unusual places such as the leg pants on a clothesline, in a mail box, and in flower pots.

Nesting

[snip left][/snip]In the winter to early spring, the male returns to his breeding ground from the previous year. The female usually arrives 9 days after the male. The male will establish territories by repeatedly giving song and by starting several nest foundations in that area.

When a female first enters the male’s territory she may be attacked by the male. If the female persists to intrude into the male’s territory, he will recognize her to as being female and sing to her. The female will then start to bring nesting materials into one of the male’s nest site. This is a sign that she will breed there.

The female will lay between 5 to 6 eggs. One egg is laid per day until the clutch is complete. Incubation starts after the last egg is laid. The incubation period last 13 days. During this time the female will spend twelve minutes on the egg and eight minutes off. Incubation is done only by the female. The eggs usually hatch all on the same day. The female will brood the young for the first few days. The young are feed by both parents. After 16 days from hatching, the young are ready to leave the nest.

After fledging the nest, the young continue to be fed by the parents. After two weeks the female will leave the young birds to start another brood. She may chose another male for the second brood. The male will continue to feed the young.

Problems

Bluebirds and tree swallows often compete with house wrens for nesting sites. To deal with this problem, erect nesting boxes, with one inch diameter entrance holes, along the edge of a forest.

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