Carolina wren

Thryothorus ludovicianus

(Photo from Free Desktop Backgrounds)

Common name:
Carolina wren (en); carriça-da-Carolina (pt); troglodyte de Caroline (fr); ratona carolinense (es); Carolinazaunkönig (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Troglodytidae


Range:
These birds are found throughout the eastern United States, in southern Ontario, Canada, in north-eastern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.


Size:
The Carolina wren is 12-14 cm long and weigh 18-22 g.


Habitat:
These birds are mostly found in dry forest, but also in moist forests, brushy clear-cuts, dense scrublands, wooded swamps and wooded riparian areas. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 2.200 m.


Diet:
They mostly eat spiders and insects, such as caterpillars, moths, stick bugs, leafhoppers, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, and cockroaches. They are also known to take small lizards, frogs or snakes and plant matter, such as fruit pulp and seeds from bayberry, sweetgum, or poison ivy.


Breeding:
Carolina wrens breed in March-October. Male and female build the nest together, a bulky cup or dome, made bark strips, dried grasses, dead leaves, pine needles, hair, feathers, straw, shed snakeskin, paper, plastic, or string. It may be placed in a wide variety of natural and artificial sites, including upturned roots, tree stumps, vine tangles, conifer branches, overhangs, abandoned woodpecker holes, boxes, tin cans, old shoes, mailboxes, old articles of clothing and furniture, window sills and coffee pots. The female lays 3-7 white or pinkish white eggs with rusty spots, which she incubates alone for 12-16 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 12-14 days after hatching, but only become fully independent 4 weeks later.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and a global population of 17 million individuals. The population has undergone a large increase of 16,8% per decade over the last 4 decades.