The sedge wren (Cistothorus stellaris) is a small and secretive passerine bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is widely distributed in North America. It is often found in wet grasslands and meadows where it nests in the tall grasses and sedges and feeds on insects. The sedge wren was formerly considered as conspecific with the non-migratory grass wren of central and South America.
Taxonomy
The sedge wren was described by the German ornithologist Johann Friedrich Naumann in 1823 under the binomial name Troglodytes stellaris. The type locality is Carolina. The current genus Cistothorus was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1850. The sedge wren and the grass wren were formerly treated as conspecific. They were split based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014.
The sedge wren was formerly known as the short-billed marsh wren but was renamed to better distinguish it from the marsh wren.
Females and males have the same plumage but males are slightly larger. Their head and back are tawny brown streaked with black and white. They have a pale buff supercilium and brown irises. and drier habitat such as dry prairies.
During winter, migratory sedge wrens can be found in a variety of habitat as long as there are sufficient insects to eat. For example, they can be found in pine savannas, They sing both during the day and the night. They breed where moist meadows and grasslands are available and they may not return to the same locations the next year if conditions are not right. They leave their wintering grounds between early April and mid-May and usually arrive at their breeding grounds between mid-April and mid-May. They will typically leave their breeding grounds when frost reduces significantly the abundance of insects. They depart anywhere from August in the northern part of their range to the end of October in the central states to arrive in their wintering grounds starting in early September. Polygynous males are usually more successful than monogamous males because breeding with multiple females increases their number of offspring. Females usually lay seven eggs but it can vary from one to ten eggs which she incubates for 12–16 days.