Northern House Wren

About the Northern House Wren

The Northern House Wren is proof that field marks are overrated - a plain gray-brown wren with a faint eyebrow, barred wings and tail, and no bold pattern at all. What it has instead is personality: constant motion, a cocked tail, scolding chatter, and an opinion about everything in its thicket.

Across most of the continent this is the summer wren of backyard nest boxes, famous for its bubbling, tumbling song and for the male's habit of stuffing every cavity in the territory with stick "dummy nests." Texas mostly meets the species the other way around: as a winter bird, quietly working brush piles and tangles from fall through spring, announcing itself with a churring scold.

The "Northern" in the name is recent - the old House Wren was split into several species, with the familiar North American bird now Northern House Wren.

Wrens punch far above their weight in attitude, and even a drab winter bird like this one runs its brush pile like a landlord. Small, plain, and entirely in charge.