Rock Wren – Facts | Song | Call | Habitat | Tail | Diet | Nest

Rock Wren

The rock wren, scientific name Salpinctes obsoletus is a small songbird of the wren family native to South America and western North America. It is the one species within the genus Salpinctes. In this article, I am going to talk about the Rock Wren song, range, images, habitat, tail, etc.

Rock Wren profile

The Rock Wren is the most important wren in Washington. Its back is grey and speckled with light dots. Its flanks are buff-yellow, and its breast is white streaked with grey.

Two eye-lines, white over darkish, prolong behind the attention. In-flight, a brown rump patch is clear, as are the pale suggestions of the tail.

The pale tip extends nearly all the best way throughout in a terminal band, however is interrupted within the center by grey.

The undertail coverts are white with black bars. Juveniles appear to be adults however have much less streaking on their breasts.

Medium-sized, uninteresting grayish-brown wren (size 12.5 to 15 cm; mass 15 to 18 g). The adult has grayish-brown upperparts finely speckled with white and black, with contrasting cinnamon rump; tail brown above with black bars.

Underparts uninteresting white finely streaked grey on throat and breast. Sexes alike in all plumages.

Distinguished from most different wrens by a mixture of medium size with a comparatively long tail, paler coloration finely speckled above with black and white markings, a noticeable black subterminal bar on the tail, and bobbing behavior and cheery, distinctive name.

Rock Wren Description

They have grey-brown upperparts with small black and white spots and pale gray underparts with a light brown rump.

Additional distinctive options embrace a light gray line over the attention, along a barely decurved skinny bill, a long barred tail, and darkish legs.

They actively hunt on the bottom, around, and under objects, probing with their bill as their extraction tool.

They mainly eat bugs and spiders. Its music is a trill that turns into more diverse throughout the nesting season.

These birds are everlasting residents within the south of their range, however, northern populations migrate to hotter areas from the central United States and southwest Canada southwards.

They are occasional vagrants within the eastern United States. During the breeding season, they transfer to dry, rocky areas, together with canyons, from southwestern Canada south to Costa Rica to construct cup nests in a crevice or cavity, often amongst rocks.

Measurements

Length: 4.9-5.9 in (12.5-15 cm)
Weight: 0.5-0.6 oz (15-18 g)
Wingspan: 8.7-9.4 in (22-24 cm)

Habitat

Rock Wrens could be present in open, arid environment on rocky slopes and canyons at a wide range of elevations. In winter, if no rocks can be found, the territory could also be established around landmarks comparable to hay bales and farm tools.

These wrens breed in rocky habitats, comparable to canyons, coulees, outcroppings, and talus slopes within the steppe and dry forests.

Behavior

Rock Wrens use their long payments to probe into slim crevices and discover prey. They are sometimes seen bouncing up and down among the many rocks as they forage. Males usually sing from rock promontories.

Diet

Insects and spiders are the predominant prey of the Rock Wren.

Rock Wren Reproduction

Nest in cavity or crevice in or amongst rocks. Eggs often ovate in form. Pure, shiny white with high-quality spots of reddish-brown. Clutch size generally 5 to six, as few as 4, and as many as 10.

From Wyoming to Alberta, egg data are from May 27 to July 15, and nestling data from June to July 23.

Rock Wren

Rock Wren Nesting

The most curious side of the Rock Wren is its tendency to create a stone walkway on the entrance to its nest.

It is unknown what function this path of flat stones and pebbles serves, however it’s constructed by each sex, before the nest cup.

Males set up a territory and sing to draw females. The pair bond is monogamous and lasts by way of the breeding season. The nest is often tucked in a crevice or gap, with the walkway the one exterior signal of its presence.

Inside the crevice, the wrens construct a basis of stone, on top of which the feminine builds a free cup of grass, wooden, bark, hair, and spider webbing, which the male helps carry to the nest.

The feminine incubates 5 to six eggs for 14 to 16 days. When the younger hatch, each parent feeds them on the nest for about 14 to 16 days.

Once the younger depart the nest, the parents proceed to feed them for a few weeks.

After that, the younger turn out to be unbiased of their dad and mom for meals, however might stay on their territory for an additional 4 weeks.

Migration Status

Rock Wrens are strongly migratory. They depart northern breeding areas for winter ranges farther south or at decrease elevations. Most depart Washington within the winter, though a couple of stay in the southeast and central Washington.

Other Recommended Reading

Rock Wren Facts

  1. The male Rock Wren is a very outstanding singer and might have a big music repertoire of 100 or more music varieties, a lot of which appear to be realized from neighbors.
  2. The Rock Wren often builds a pavement or walkway of small, flat stones or pebbles that results in the nest cavity. The nest is often positioned in a rock crevice out of sight, however, the pavement might give away the nest’s location. The operation of this pavement is unknown.
  3. The Rock Wren isn’t identified to drink water, however as a substitute will get all it wants from its meals. Even a couple of birds saved in captivity didn’t drink water when it was accessible.

Rock wren conservation

Currently widespread and customary, Rock Wrens have been growing considerably in Washington since 1982. Most of their nesting habitat isn’t adversely affected by human actions.

Livestock grazing close to nesting Rock Wrens, nonetheless, could also be liable for an elevated incidence of nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds and could also be a trigger for concern.

It is unknown how they survive the tough local weather above the tree line all year round, however, it’s probably they proceed to forage on rocky bluffs the place snow has not collected and amongst massive boulder fields.

Some have recommended they could have an interval of semi-hibernation. Learn more about the yellow-crowned Amazon parrot.

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