thumb|right|Illustration from [[John James Audubon|Audubon's The Birds of America]]

Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii) is a wren native to North America. It is the only species placed in the genus Thryomanes. At about long, it is grey-brown above, white below, with a long white eyebrow. While similar in appearance to the Carolina wren, it has a long tail that is tipped in white. The song is loud and melodious, much like the song of other wrens. It lives in thickets, brush piles and hedgerows, open woodlands and scrubby areas, often near streams. It eats insects and spiders, which it gleans from vegetation or finds on the ground. In the companion Ornithological Biography, published four years later, Audubon explained that he had shot the specimen near St. Francisville, Louisiana in 1821 and had chosen the specific epithet bewickii in honour of his friend the engraver Thomas Bewick. Bewick's wren is now the only species placed in the genus Thryomanes that was introduced by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1862.

The Socorro wren was formerly also placed in Thryomanes, but is now known to be a close relative of the house wren complex, as indicated by biogeography and mtDNA NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence analysis, whereas Thryomanes seems not too distant from the Carolina wren.

  • T. b. calophonus Oberholser, 1898 – southwest Canada and northwest USA
  • T. b. drymoecus Oberholser, 1898 – west Canada. Includes T. b. atrestus.
  • T. b. marinensis Grinnell, 1910 – coastal northwest California
  • T. b. spilurus (Vigors, 1839) – coastal central California
  • † T. b. leucophrys (Anthony, 1895) – Extinct, formerly San Clemente Island, California
  • T. b. charienturus Oberholser, 1898 – southern California and northwest Baja California
  • T. b. cerroensis (Anthony, 1897) – west central Baja California
  • T. b. magdalenensis Huey, 1942 – southwest Baja California
  • † T. b. brevicauda Ridgway, 1876 – Extinct, formerly Guadalupe Island, Mexico
  • T. b. eremophilus Oberholser, 1898 – interior southwest USA to central Mexico
  • T. b. cryptus Oberholser, 1898 – west Kansas, west Oklahoma and central, east Texas and northeast Mexico
  • T. b. pulichi (Phillips, AR, 1986) – east Kansas and Oklahoma
  • T. b. sadai (Phillips, AR, 1986) – south Texas (southern USA) to central Tamaulipas (northeast Mexico)
  • T. b. mexicanus (Deppe, 1830) – central and south Mexico. Includes T. b. murinus.
  • T. b. bewickii (Audubon, 1827) – Nominate subspecies, central and east central USA. Includes T. b. altus.

Description

Bewick's wren has an average length of an average weight of , and a wingspan of . Its plumage is brown on top and light grey underneath, with a white stripe above each eye. Its beak is long, slender, and slightly curved. Its most distinctive feature is its long tail with black bars and white corners. It moves its tail around frequently, making this feature even more obvious for observers.

Juveniles look similar to adults, with only a few key differences. Their beaks are usually shorter and stockier. In addition, their underbelly might feature some faint speckling. A male wren learns its song from neighboring males, so its song will be different from its father's. Western populations do not tend to migrate. Eastern populations, prior to their decline, used to migrate from its northern range to the Gulf Coast. They are more common than house wrens in drier habitats, such as those found in the Southwest.

Behavior

thumbtime=1.4|thumb|200px|alt=Video of a Bewick's Wren parent in a nestbox in Oakland, California, feeding her young an insect and cleaning out a fecal sac.|Bewick's Wren feeding young and cleaning the nestbox

Feeding

Bewick's wrens are insect eaters. They glean insects and insect eggs from vegetation, including the trunks of trees. They typically do not feed on vegetation higher than 3 meters, but they will forage on the ground. Like many insect-eating birds, Bewick's wren widens its diet to include seeds in the winter.

Breeding

Courtship begins with the male singing from its perch. It will occasionally pause its song in order to chase its competitors. Bewick's wrens form monogamous pairs that will then forage together. In 2014, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative placed the eastern Bewick's wren on its watch list.

Several theories have been proposed to explain its decline in its eastern range, including pesticide use and competition from other bird species.

References

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  • Bewick's wren - Thryomanes bewickii - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
  • Bewick's wren Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology