Friday's Foto

Winter Wren, Brooklyn, NY

Weighing in at a mere 0.3 - 0.4 oz, the diminutive Winter Wren has, pound for pound, the loudest song of any North American songbird. "Birdnote" describes their explosive song as having "ten times the sound power of a crowing rooster". They feed by moving mouse-like through dense tangles in the understory probing for insects, their stubby tail often cocked straight up. Winter Wrens nest primarily in coniferous forests from British Columbia to the Atlantic Ocean. Their winter range is the eastern part of the US down to the Gulf Coast. Originally considered one species, in 2010 North America's eastern, western and Eurasian races were split into three distinct species: Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus) of western NA, the Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) of eastern NA, and the Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) of the Old World. The IUCN Red List lists this species conservation status as "Least Concern". The scientific name, Troglodytes hiemalis, means cave-dweller of winter.