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Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)

© Charles H. Warren

Length: 3-4 in.
Habitat: coniferous and mixed forests with heavy undergrowth, often near streams; wooded swamps.

The song of the Winter Wren is clear, rapid, and very high in pitch, often with notes beyond the range of human ears. The wren sings along at 16 notes a second, stringing beautiful, tinkling passages into long pieces. It sings over the sound of surf on remote Alaskan islands, where it nests on cliffs and rocky slopes near the shore. Elsewhere it is most often a bird of the deep woods, nesting in the earth that clings to the roos of fallen trees, under standing roots, or in crevices between rocks.