BREEDING BIRDS: HOUSE WREN (Troglodytes aedon)

Description: Adults are brown with gray above; juveniles show a brownish-red rump and a darker buff on lower parts.

Habitat: Common in suburbs, parks, brush and shrubs.

Diet: Spiders, millipedes and snails.

Displays: Male performs a courtship dance of singing and quivering wings, tail raised; female quivers wings. Dual inspection of the nest the male has begun building usually follows.

Nest: Builds nest in cavities of trees, often in nests of other birds; nests are made of twigs and grass then lined with fine materials.

Eggs: White, marked with brown, occasionally wreathed; less than one inch long.

Song: Exuberant cascade of bubbling whistled notes.

Note: Males are strongly loyal to their breeding territory; both males and females often destroy eggs of other House Wrens and of other species nesting nearby. This behavior is restrained while birds are tending their own eggs.

Breeding bird atlas: To report bird breeding activity in your neighborhood, or to get information on the breeding bird atlas, call Sea and Sage Audubon Society members Sylvia Gallagher, (714) 962-8990, or Nancy Kenyon, (714) 786-3160.

Note: Map is divided into 5-kilometer squares so that Audubon Society volunteers can more easily survey areas on a regular basis.

Wheye, Fireside Books (1988); “Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” National Geographic Society (1987); “Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,” Garrett and Dunn, Los Angeles Audubon Society (1981).