{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{more footnotes|date=October 2010}} {{Speciesbox | name = Winter wren | image = Winter wren in Prospect Park (32249).jpg | image_caption = In Prospect Park, New York. | image2 = Troglodytes hiemalis - Winter Wren XC142584.ogg | image2_caption = Song recorded in Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Michigan | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 18 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Troglodytes hiemalis'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T103885731A104334569 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103885731A104334569.en |access-date=18 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Troglodytes | species = hiemalis | authority = Vieillot, 1819 | synonyms = ''Olbiorchilus hiemalis''<br/> ''Nannus hiemalis'' | range_map = Troglodytes hiemalis map.svg | range_map_caption= {{leftlegend|#FF7F2A|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#FFDD55|Migration|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#7137C8|Year-round|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#5F8DD3|Nonbreeding|outline=gray}} }}
The '''winter wren''' ('''''Troglodytes hiemalis''''') is a very small North American bird and a member of the mainly New World wren family Troglodytidae. The species was formerly often lumped together with Eurasian wren (''Troglodytes troglodytes'') of Eurasia and Pacific wren (''Troglodytes pacificus'') of western North America under the merged name of '''northern wren''' (with the scientific name ''T. troglodytes'' having priority), until they were split in 2010.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Voous |first1=Karel |title=List of Recent Holarctic Bird Species |journal=Ibis |date=1977 |volume=119 |page=235}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
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 for its genus is taken from the Greek word ''troglodytes'' (from "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and may refer to their tendency to nest in cavities or their foraging behavior, in which the winter wren almost exclusively ground-gleans in thick underbrush.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Winter Wren |url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/winter_wren |access-date=12 March 2024 |website=Cornell Lab - All About Birds}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Calvin |date=2012 |title=Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) |url=https://irelandswildlife.com/wren-troglodytes-troglodytes/ |access-date=12 March 2024 |website=Ireland's Wildlife}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Murakami |first1=Masashi |last2=Nakano |first2=Shigeru |date=2001 |title=Species-specific foraging behavior of birds in a riparian forest |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1046/j.1440-1703.2001.00448.x |journal=Ecological Research |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=913–923 |doi=10.1046/j.1440-1703.2001.00448.x|bibcode=2001EcoR...16..913M |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Taxonomy== The winter wren was described and illustrated in 1808 by the American ornithologist Alexander Wilson. He was uncertain as to whether the wren should be considered a separate species or a subspecies of the Eurasian wren.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Wilson | first=Alexander | author-link=Alexander Wilson (ornithologist) | year=1808 | title=American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States: Illustrated with Plates Engraved and Colored from Original drawings taken from Nature | volume=3 | location=Philadelphia | publisher=Bradford and Inskeep | page=139, Plate 8 fig. 6 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46341749 }}</ref> When Louis Pierre Vieillot, a French ornithologist, described the winter wren in 1819 he considered it a separate species and coined the current binomial name ''Troglodytes hiemalis''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | year=1819 | title=Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc. | edition=Nouvelle édition | volume=34 | location=Paris | publisher=Deterville | page=514 | doi=10.5962/bhl.title.20211 | language=French | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19479207 }}</ref> The specific epithet is Latin and means "of winter".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=192 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n192/mode/1up }}</ref> The type locality was restricted to Nova Scotia by Harry C. Oberholser in 1902.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Oberholser | first=Harry C. | author-link=Harry C. Oberholser | year=1902 | title=A synopsis of the genus commonly called ''Anorthura'' | journal=Auk | volume=19 | issue=2 | pages=175–181 [178] | doi=10.2307/4069309 | jstor=4069309 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15932563 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Greenway | editor2-first=James C. Jr | year=1960 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=9 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=415 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14481090 }}</ref>
The winter wren was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Eurasian wren (''Troglodytes troglodytes'') and the Pacific wren (''Troglodytes pacificus'').<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2022 | title=Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, hyliotas, wrens & gnatcatchers | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sugarbirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=28 May 2022 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite journal| last1=Chesser | first1=R Terry | last2=Banks | first2=Richard C | last3=Barker | first3=F Keith | last4=Cicero | first4=Carla | last5=Dunn | first5=Jon L | last6=Kratter | first6=Andrew W | last7=Lovette | first7=Irby J | last8=Rasmussen | first8=Pamela C | last9=Remsen | first9=JV Jr | last10=Rising | first10=James D | last11=Stotz | first11=Douglas F | last12=Winker | first12=Kevin | year=2010 | title=Fifty-First Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds |journal=The Auk |volume=127 | issue= 3 |pages= 726–744 [734–735] |doi=10.1525/auk.2010.127.4.966 | doi-access=free }}</ref> The two North American species were split from the Eurasian wren based on a study of mitochondrial DNA published in 2007.<ref name=drovetski>{{Cite journal | last1=Drovetski | first1=S.V. | last2=Zink | first2=R.M. | last3=Rohwer | first3=S. | last4=Fadeev | first4=I.V. | last5=Nesterov | first5=E.V. | last6=Karagodin | first6=I. | last7=Koblik | first7=E.A. | last8=Red'kin | first8=Y.A. | date=2004 | title=Complex biogeographic history of a Holarctic passerine | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences | volume=271 | issue=1538 | pages=545–551 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2003.2638| pmid=15129966 | pmc=1691619 }}</ref> A study published in 2008 of the songs and genetics of individuals in an overlap zone between ''Troglodytes hiemalis'' and ''Troglodytes pacificus'' found strong evidence of reproductive isolation between the two. It was suggested that the subspecies ''pacificus'' be promoted to the species level designation of ''Troglodytes pacificus'' with the common name of "Pacific wren".<ref name=toews>{{cite journal |last1=Toews | first1=David P.L. |last2=Irwin | first2=Darren E. |year=2008 |title=Cryptic speciation in a Holarctic passerine revealed by genetic and bioacoustic analyses |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=17 |issue=11 |pages=2691–2705 | doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03769.x | pmid=18444983 | bibcode=2008MolEc..17.2691T | s2cid=8488125 }}</ref> By applying a molecular clock to the amount of mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence between the two, it was estimated that ''Troglodytes pacificus'' and ''Troglodytes troglodytes'' last shared a common ancestor approximately 4.3 million years ago, long before the glacial cycles of the Pleistocene, which are thought to have promoted speciation in many avian systems inhabiting the boreal forest of North America.<ref name=toews/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weir |first1=J.T. | last2=Schluter | first2=D. |year=2004 |title=Ice sheets promote speciation in boreal birds |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=271 |issue=1551 |pages=1881–1887 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2803 |pmid=15347509 |pmc=1691815 }}</ref>
Two subspecies are accepted:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''T. h. hiemalis'' Vieillot, 1819 – breeds in east Canada and northeast USA, winters in southeast USA * ''T. h. pullus'' (Burleigh, 1935) – breeds in mountains of West Virginia to Georgia (east-central USA), winters in south USA
==Description== Small tail is often cocked above its back, and short neck gives the appearance of a small brown ball. Rufous brown above, grayer below, barred with darker brown and gray, even on wings and tail. The bill is dark brown, and the legs are pale brown. Young birds are less distinctly barred. Most are identifiable by the pale "eyebrows" over their eyes.
'''Measurements''':<ref>{{Cite web|title=Winter Wren Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Winter_Wren/id|access-date=2020-09-28|website=www.allaboutbirds.org|language=en}}</ref>
* '''Length''': {{convert|8|-|12|cm|in|abbr=on}} * '''Weight''': {{convert|8|-|12|g|oz|abbr=on}} * '''Wingspan''': {{convert|12|-|16|cm|in|abbr=on}}
thumb|center|Clinging to a spruce tree during fall migration in New York.
==Distribution and habitat== The winter wren nests mostly in coniferous forests, especially those of spruce and fir, where it is often identified by its long and exuberant song. Although it is an insectivore, it can remain in moderately cold and even snowy climates by foraging for insects on substrates such as bark and fallen logs.
Its movements as it creeps or climbs are incessant rather than rapid; its short flights swift and direct but not sustained, its tiny round wings whirring as it flies from bush to bush.
At night, usually in winter, it often roosts, true to its scientific name, in dark retreats, snug holes and even old nests. In hard weather it may do so in parties, either consisting of the family or of many individuals gathered together for warmth.
==Behavior and ecology== ===Breeding=== The male builds a small number of nests. These are called "cock nests" but are never lined until the female chooses one to use. The normal round nest of grass, moss, lichens or leaves is tucked into a hole in a wall, tree trunk, crack in a rock or corner of a building, but it is often built in bushes, overhanging boughs or the litter which accumulates in branches washed by floods. Five to eight white or slightly speckled eggs are laid in April, and second broods are reared.
===Food and feeding=== Winter wrens primarily eat arthropods, with preference for spiders, caterpillars, and adult beetles and flies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Horne |first=Beatrice |last2=Bader |first2=Ahmad |date=1990 |title=Diet of nestling winter wrens in relationship to food availability |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1368238 |journal=The Condor |volume=92 |issue=2 |pages=413-420}}</ref> Other less common food items include arthropods of taxa ''Acari'' (mites and ticks), ''Hymenoptera'' (bees, wasps, and ants), ''Chilopoda'' (centipedes), ''Diplopoda'' (millipedes)'','' and ''Amphipoda'' (amphipods).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McLachlin |first=Roderick A. |date=1983 |title=Dispersion of the Western Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) in the coastal western hemlock forest at the University of British Columbia Research Forest in southwestern British Columbia. (Ph.D. Thesis) |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0095884 |journal=University of British Columbia Theses & Dissertations}}</ref><ref>Hejl, S. J., J. A. Holmes, and D. E. Kroodsma (2020). Winter Wren (''Troglodytes hiemalis''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.winwre3.01</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Troglodytes hiemalis|the winter wren}} {{Wikispecies|Troglodytes hiemalis}} * [https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i7220id.html Identification tips]—USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter * [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Winter_Wren.html Species account]—Cornell Lab of Ornithology * {{InternetBirdCollection|northern-wren-troglodytes-troglodytes|Northern wren}} * {{VIREO|Winter+Wren|Winter wren}} * {{IUCN_Map|22711483|Troglodytes hiemalis}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q10828228}}
Category:Birds described in 1819 Category:Birds of Appalachia (United States) Category:Birds of Canada Category:Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot Category:Troglodytes (bird) Category:Birds of the United States Category:Least concern biota of the United States