WRENS

Rock Wren 

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Salpinctes obsoletus

The Rock Wren is a small songbird of the wren family native to South America and western North America. It is the only species in the genus Salpinctes.

Both sexes measures about 4.9 - 5.9 inches in length, with a wingspan of 8.7 - 9.4 inches and weight of 15 - 18 grams.

Adults have dull gray-brown back and cinnamon rump, long cinnamon tail with buffy tips on outer feathers, and a broad dark tail band. Upperparts are speckled with small white and dark patches.

Underparts are whitish, finely streaked with gray-brown on breast and throat. Flanks are washed with cinnamon. Undertail coverts are whitish barred black.

Head is dull gray-brown on crown and nape. They have white eye-stripe. Face is grayish, finely spotted with white and dark. Chin and throat are whitish.

Bill is long and thin, slightly down-curved, with pale yellow base on lower mandible. Eyes are brown. Legs and feet are blackish-brown or black.

Both sexes are similar.

Juveniles resemble adults, but with duller colors. They are darker, with little streaks on the underparts, paler than in adults.

CALL: A buzzy “tick-ear”, or a loud, dry trill.

SONG: A series of varied sounds, such as buzzes, trills, chatters and whistles, often repeated several times. Male has a large sound repertoire.
Their song becomes more varied and musical during the breeding season.

Feeds mainly on insects and larvae, spiders, and also earthworms. It does not drink water. Its food provides it all it needs.

Lives mainly in arid and semi-arid habitats, open rocky country with sparse vegetation, scrublands, loose rock slopes and broken ground areas in steppe and dry forests.

Breeds in dry rocky areas such as canyons and cliffs.

Breeds from southern British Columbia and Saskatchewan, to California and Texas, and through Mexico to Central America.

Winters southwards in the southern United States. This species is resident in the southern parts of its range, but northern birds migrate southwards to winter.

The nest is cup-shaped and built inside the crevice or the hole. They create a foundation with stones, and the female builds a loose cup on the top. It is made with grasses, wood, bark, hair, and silk from spider’s webs. The male helps female bringing nest materials. It is lined with softer matters.

The female lays 5 - 6 glossy white eggs, finely spotted of reddish-brown. Incubation lasts about 14 - 16 days, by the female alone, occasionally fed by the male. Altricial chicks are fed by both parents during about two weeks.

Young fledge at about 14 - 16 days of age, and parents feed them for about a week.
At this time, young become independent for food, but they remain for about one month in the parents’ territory.



SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com