My Eye Is Upon You!

Can you identify this bird?

It has no prominent field marks, but note the slightly curved beak.  It is from the family Troglodytidae, which means "cave dweller".  The photo (above) is a little atypical, because these birds are usually seen holding their tails upright in a perky way.

Here's a pair.

Have you guessed it yet?  Yep!  These are wrens.  And as you can see, the male and female look the same.  They have no obvious sexual dimorphism.

Something interesting about wrens is that the male will build more than one nest, and then when he gets a mate, he will let her pick the one she likes best.  They may nest inside cavities but have a strong preference for manmade birdhouses.  So much so, that if you are building bluebird houses, you need to make the entrance hole according to the exact dimensions called for, or wrens will take them over in a heartbeat.  (I learned this while working on an Eagle Scout project!)

Wrens can be very fierce, as you can tell from the following photo.

It's pretty clear that this wren is saying, "Back Off!!!"  I was further away than it looks, using my zoom lens, but I got the message loud and clear, and gave this little family a wide berth.

The word wren has a fascinating etymology.  Here's the trail:  Old English wraenna, from Old High German wrendo & wrendilo, from the Icelandic rindill.  I just love trailing these words back through the centuries.  Aren't they beautiful?