House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

[order] Passeriformes | [family] Troglodytidae | [latin] Troglodytes aedon | [UK] House Wren | [FR] Troglodyte familier | [DE] Hauszaunkonig | [ES] Ratona Comun | [IT] Scricciolo delle case | [NL] Huiswinterkoning

The House Wren perches with an erect tail in a very characteristic posture (see photo). They have brownish-gray upperparts (head, nape and back) with fine, dark brown stripes. They have pale gray underparts (throat and chest) and they have black bars on their flanks, wings and tail. They have an eye ring and a faint, white line (eyebrow-like) above their eyes. They have no bold or characteristic markings. Their legs are pink and they have a short, curved bill. Juveniles have a reddish-brown behind and slightly darker underparts.

The range of the Southern House Wren (Troglodytes musculus) is very large, as the species occurs from the tropical coastal zone of eastern Mexico and the Lesser Antilles
southward to Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands.

In Surinam the bird is well known as the Gado fowroe (God bird). It is one of the commonest birds in the cultivated area of the coastal region and is present everywhere in gardens of the town and smaller settlements. This wren is also found in the extensive ?parwa,? the woods of Avicennid nitida bordering the sea coast, in the coffee plantations, and on the dry sandy savannas in the interior of the country. It is lacking, however, in the midst of dense forests, but an abandoned shed in a clearing will almost certainly harbor a couple of these birds.

Nests with eggs may be found in all months of the year. At least two broods are reared in a season; presumably even more are raised but this can only be ascertained with certainty by color marking of individual birds. This wren is not conservative in its choice of a place to build its nest. In the town and in settlements the nest is very often found on rafters under houses, but also in sheds, in all kinds of crevices, and in holes of trees. The nest itself is an open one and a rather rough affair of dry sticks of different lengths protruding in all directions, with a nest cup in the middle of it. The cup is lined with soft material, such as feathers. Both sexes take part in the building of the nest. Many nests which are started are never completed. Incubation is performed by the female. The incubation period is about 14 days. Both sexes feed the young in the nest. The faeces of the young is swallowed by the old birds until the nestlings are three days old and from then on it is taken away. The chicks are altricial when they hatch, and are brooded by the female. Both parents feed the chicks, which fledge after 15 to 17 days. The chicks all leave the nest within a few hours of each other. After the chicks leave the nest, both parents continue to feed them for about 13 days. In Surinam the Southern House When is a common host of the Shiny Cowbird (Molotkrus bonariensis).

House wrens feed primarily on small, terrestrial insects. The independent young and adults consume mostly spiders, beetles, and bugs while the nestlings are fed mostly grasshoppers, crickets, and caterpillars. Adults feed their young and supplement their own diet with sources of calcium such as mollusk shells. House wrens forage primarily in the woodland subcanopy, in shrubs and among herbaceous ground cover.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 25,000,000 km