Eurasian wren
Species of bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) is a very small insectivorous bird and the only member of the wren family found in the Old World, specifically in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren. It has a very short tail which is often held erect, a short neck and a relatively long thin bill. It is russet brown above, paler buff-brown below, overall finely barred darker, and has a cream buff supercilium. The sexes are alike.
| Eurasian wren | |
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| Nominate subspecies in Franconville, France
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Troglodytidae |
| Genus: | Troglodytes |
| Species: | T. troglodytes |
| Binomial name | |
| Troglodytes troglodytes | |
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Breeding summer visitor
Breeding resident
Non-breeding winter visitor | |
| Synonyms | |
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The Eurasian wren occurs in Europe and across the Palearctic, including a belt of Asia from northern Iran and Afghanistan across to Japan. It is migratory in the northern (particularly northeastern), parts of its range, and sedentary in the west and south of its range.[3] It is also highly polygynous, an unusual mating system for passerines. The species was formerly lumped together with winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) of eastern North America and Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus) of western North America under the merged name of northern wren.[4]
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The scientific name is taken from the Greek word "troglodytes" (from τρώγλη troglē "hole", and δῠ́ειν dyein, "creep"), meaning "hole-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropods or to roost. The taxonomy of the genus Troglodytes is currently unresolved, as recent molecular studies have suggested that the genera Cistothorus and Thryorchilus are within the clade currently defined by Troglodytes.[5][6]
Taxonomy
The Eurasian wren was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla troglodytes.[7] The specific epithet is from the Ancient Greek trōglodutēs meaning "cave-dweller".[8] In 1555 the German naturalist Conrad Gessner had used the Latin name Passer troglodyte for the Eurasian wren in his Historiae animalium.[9] The species is now placed in the genus Troglodytes that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1809.[10]
The Eurasian wren was formerly considered conspecific with two North American species, the winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) and the Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus).[11][12] Some ornithologists place the Eurasian wren, the winter wren and the Pacific wren in a separate genus Nannus that was described by the Swedish naturalist Gustaf Johan Billberg in 1828 with the Eurasian wren as the type species.[5][13][14][15]
It was estimated that Troglodytes pacificus and Troglodytes troglodytes last shared a common ancestor approximately 4.3 million years ago, long before the glacial cycles of the Pleistocene, thought to have promoted speciation in many avian lineages inhabiting the boreal forest of North America.[16]
Subspecies
Currently, 28 subspecies of this taxonomically complex bird are accepted:[11][17]
- Troglodytes troglodytes islandicus Hartert, EJO, 1907. Iceland.
- Troglodytes troglodytes borealis Fischer, JCH, 1861. Faroe Islands.
- Troglodytes troglodytes zetlandicus Hartert, EJO, 1910. Scotland (Shetland).
- Troglodytes troglodytes fridariensis Williamson, K, 1951. Scotland (Fair Isle).
- Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis Seebohm, H, 1884. Scotland (St Kilda).
- Troglodytes troglodytes hebridensis Meinertzhagen, R, 1924. Scotland (Outer Hebrides).
- Troglodytes troglodytes indigenus Clancey, PA, 1937. Ireland, Inner Hebrides, Orkney, Great Britain mainland.
- Troglodytes troglodytes troglodytes (Linnaeus, C, 1758). Continental Europe and Turkey.
- Troglodytes troglodytes kabylorum Hartert, EJO, 1910. Northwestern Africa (Morocco to Tunisia), Southern Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands (but see below).
- Troglodytes troglodytes koenigi Schiebel, G, 1910. Corsica and Sardinia.
- Troglodytes troglodytes juniperi Hartert, EJO, 1922. Northern Libya (Cyrenaica).
- Troglodytes troglodytes cypriotes (Bate, DMA, 1903). Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus, Near East.
- Troglodytes troglodytes hyrcanus Zarudny, NA; Loudon, HGG, 1905. Crimean Peninsula to Caucasus Mountains, northern Iraq, Iran.
- Troglodytes troglodytes tianschanicus Sharpe, RB, 1882. Mountains of Central Asia from Tien Shan (possibly from Altai) south to Pamir and northeastern Afghanistan.
- Troglodytes troglodytes subpallidus Zarudny, NA; Loudon, HGG, 1905. Himalayas of Afghanistan.
- Troglodytes troglodytes magrathi (Whitehead, CHT, 1907). Mountains on borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- Troglodytes troglodytes neglectus Brooks, WE, 1872. Western Himalaya (Gilgit to western Nepal).
- Troglodytes troglodytes nipalensis Blyth, E, 1845. Central and eastern Himalaya from central Nepal to northeastern Assam and southern Tibet.
- Troglodytes troglodytes idius (Richmond, CW, 1907). Northern China (southern Hebei to Shandong).
- Troglodytes troglodytes szetschuanus Hartert, EJO, 1910. Southwestern China (southern Shaanxi and Sichuan eastward to Hupei).
- Troglodytes troglodytes talifuensis (Sharpe, RB, 1902). Western China (southern Sichuan to western Yunnan) and northeastern Myanmar.
- Troglodytes troglodytes dauricus Dybowski, BT; Taczanowski, W, 1884. Eastern Siberia to Sakhalin, Manchuria, and Korea.
- Troglodytes troglodytes pallescens (Ridgway, R, 1883). Kamchatka Peninsula and Komandorskiye Islands.
- Troglodytes troglodytes kurilensis Stejneger, LH, 1889. Northern Kuril Islands (Shasukotan and Ushichi).
- Troglodytes troglodytes fumigatus Temminck, CJ, 1835. Japan, southern Kuril Islands.
- Troglodytes troglodytes mosukei Momiyama, T, 1923. Eastern Japan (Izu Islands and Daito Islands).
- Troglodytes troglodytes ogawae Hartert, EJO, 1910. Southern Japan (Tanegashima and Yakushima).
- Troglodytes troglodytes taivanus Hartert, EJO, 1910. Taiwan.
Only limited genetic studies have been carried out to date, but show the subspecies may need further revision. Most notably, the northwest African population (T. t. kabylorum sensu stricto) and the Cyrenaican population (T. t. juniperi) are genetically highly distinct and may not even belong in T. troglodytes at all, being sister to the rest of T. troglodytes plus T. hiemalis (winter wren, of eastern North America).[14] Conversely, the Iberian Peninsula birds currently included in T. t. kabylorum are very close to nominate T. t. troglodytes.[14]
In Scotland, in addition to the typical bird T. t. indigenus widespread in Britain and Ireland, there are four distinct insular subspecies; one, T. t. hirtensis, is confined to the island of St Kilda; another, T. t. zetlandicus, to Shetland; the third, T. t. fridariensis, to Fair Isle; and the fourth, T. t. hebridensis, to the Outer Hebrides. The St Kilda wren is greyer above, whiter beneath, with more abundant bars on the back; the Shetland wren and Fair Isle wren are darker.[18] Other isolated northwestern European island subspecies include T. t. islandicus on Iceland and T. t. borealis on the Faroe Islands.[11] Not all of these are accepted by all authors though; Shirihai & Svensson (2019) merged T. t. indigenus, T. t. zetlandicus, T. t. fridariensis, and T. t. hebridensis into a broader concept of a widespread oceanic climate subspecies T. t. borealis and retaining only the highly isolated T. t. hirtensis as distinct; they also included southeast English birds in nominate T. t. troglodytes.[19]
An additional disputed subspecies T. t. orii,[20] the Daito wren, became extinct around 1940, if it was ever a valid taxon and not merely a vagrant of another subspecies; in an analysis of Eurasian wren subspecies, the ornithologist Charles Vaurie concuded it was a synonym of T. t. mosukei.[21]
Description
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The Eurasian wren is a plump, sturdy bird with rounded wings and a short tail, which is usually held cocked up. It is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) in length and has a wingspan of 13–17 cm (5.1–6.7 in).[22] It weighs around 10 g (0.35 oz).[23] It is rufous brown above, greyer beneath, and indistinctly barred with darker brown and grey, even on the wings and tail. The bill is dark brown and the legs are pale brown, the feet having strong claws and a large hind toe. Young birds are less distinctly barred and have mottled underparts.[18] The plumage is subject to considerable variation, and where populations have been isolated, the variation has become fixed in one minor form or another.
Vocal behaviour
The most common call is a sharp, repeated "tic-tic-tic", similar but faster and with less isolated notes compared to that of a robin. When the bird is annoyed or excited, its call runs into an emphatic churr, not unlike clockwork running down.[18] The song is a gushing burst of sweet music, clear, shrill and emphatic. The male has a remarkably long and complex song, with a series of tinkling trills one after the other for several seconds. The bird has an enormous voice for its size, ten times louder, weight for weight, than a cockerel.[citation needed] The song begins with a few preliminary notes, then runs into a trill, slightly ascending, and ends in full clear notes or another trill. The song may be heard at any time of year, though it is most noticeable during spring. Despite its generally mouse-like behaviour, the male may sing from an exposed low perch as its whole body quivers from the effort. Its song may sometimes be confused with that of the dunnock, which has a warble that is shorter and weaker. The wren's song also incorporates repeated trill sounds while the dunnock's does not.[24]
Distribution and habitat
This small, stump-tailed wren is almost as familiar in Europe as the robin. It is mouse-like, easily lost sight of when it is hunting for food, but is found everywhere from the sea coast to the tops of the highest moors.
The Eurasian wren is a Palearctic species. The nominate subspecies breeds in Europe as far north as 67°N in Norway and 64°N in Sweden, Finland and Russia.[18][26] Its southern limit is northern Spain, southern France, Italy, Sicily and southern Russia. It also breeds in Western Asia as far east as Syria. It is replaced by other subspecies in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland, the Hebrides, and St Kilda, and further south in northwestern Africa, Spain and Portugal, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Crete and Cyprus. Other subspecies also occur in southern Russia and eastern Asia to Japan.[18]
It occupies a great variety of habitats, typically any kind of cultivated or uncultivated area with bushes and low ground cover; gardens, hedgerows, thickets, plantations, woodland and reed beds. It inhabits more open locations with clumps of brambles or gorse, rough pasture, moorland, boulder-strewn slopes, rocky coasts and sea cliffs.[18]
Behaviour and ecology
The wren is an ever-active bird, constantly on the move foraging for insects, in the open or among thick vegetation. It moves with quick jerks, probing into crevices, examining old masonry, hopping onto fallen logs and delving down among them. It sometimes moves higher in the canopy, but for the most part stays near the ground, often being flushed from under overhangs on banks. Sometimes it hops up the lower part of tree trunks. Occasionally it flits away, its short flights swift and direct but not usually sustained, its tiny round wings whirring as it flies.[18] On migration, it is however capable of lengthy sustained flight; ringing recoveries of English-ringed birds in Sweden and a German-ringed bird in England, and the regular arrival of presumed Norwegian birds on the east coast of Britain north to Shetland in autumn, shows they can readily cross the over-500 km wide North Sea.[27] The longest distance ringing recovery is of 1,524 km from Rossitten Bird Observatory in Kaliningrad, Russia, to Bosham in West Sussex, England.[28]
It is a hardy bird, able to live in the uplands of Britain even in winter, vanishing into the heather when snow lies thick above, a troglodyte indeed. It frequents gardens and farms, but it is quite as abundant in thick woods and in reed-beds.[29]
At night, usually in winter, it often roosts, true to its scientific name, in dark retreats, snug holes and even old nests. In hard weather, it may do so in parties, consisting of either the family or of many individuals gathered together for warmth.
Breeding
In most of northern Europe and Asia, it nests mostly in coniferous forests, where it is often identified by its long and exuberant song. Although it is an insectivore, it can remain in moderately cold and even snowy climates by foraging for insects on substrates such as bark and fallen logs. The male wren builds several nests in his territory; these are called "cock nests" but are never lined until the female chooses one to use. The number of nests on a territory influences the female's choice of mate; she preferentially mates with a male that had constructed numerous nests.[30] Courtship includes display and posturing by the male. He sings with wings and tail half open, or with them drooping, sometimes with one wing extended, or the wings may be raised and lowered several times in quick succession.[18]
The neatly-domed nest has a side entrance and is built of grass, moss, lichen and dead leaves, whatever is available locally. It is often tucked into a hole in a wall or tree trunk or a crack in a rock, but it can also be built in brambles, a bush or a hedge, among ivy on a bank, in thatch, or in abandoned bird's nests such as those of the house sparrow, swallow, house martin and dipper. On making her selection, the female wren lines the nest generously with feathers.[18]
A clutch of five or six (range three to eleven) eggs are laid from April onwards. These average 16.6 by 12.7 mm (0.65 by 0.50 in) and are white with variable amounts of reddish-brown speckles, mostly on the broad end. The female alone incubates these, and they hatch after 14 to 15 days. The young are fed on insects, spiders and other small invertebrates; there is no record of the male feeding the young in the nest, but he does do so after they have fledged, which happens after about 16 days. There are usually two broods.[18]
Wrens are highly polygamous; a male can have, at any one time, more than one female with an active nest on his territory. An active nest is one in which there are eggs or nestlings. A male has been recorded with four females breeding on his territory.[31] Bigamy and trigamy are the most common forms of polygamy.
Food and feeding
Insects form the bulk of the diet; these are chiefly the larvae of butterflies and moths, such as geometer moths and owlet moths, as well as beetle larvae, fly larvae, caddisfly larvae and aphids. Other food items include spiders, and some seeds are also taken. The young are largely fed on moth larvae, with caterpillars of the cabbage moth and crane fly larvae having been identified.[18]
Status
The Eurasian wren is classified as "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List due to its extremely large range, increasing population trend, and a globally substantial population size.[32]
The breeding population in Europe is estimated to range from 32.7 to 56.5 million pairs, equating to 65.3 to 113 million mature individuals.[33]
Relationship with humans
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In European folklore, the wren is the king of the birds,[a] according to a fable attributed to Aesop by Plutarch,[35] when the eagle and the wren strove to fly the highest, the wren rested on the eagle's back, and when the eagle tired, the wren flew out above him. Thus, Plutarch implied, the wren proved that cleverness is better than strength. The wren's majesty is recognised in such stories as the Grimm Brothers' The Willow-Wren and the Bear.[clarification needed] Aristotle[36] and Plutarch called the wren basileus (king) and basiliskos (little king). In German, the wren is called Zaunkönig (king of the fence). An old German name was "Schneekönig" (snow king),[citation needed] and in Dutch, it is "winterkoning" (winter king), which all refer to king. In Japan, the wren is labelled king of the winds, and the myth of The Wren Among the Hawks sees the wren successfully hunt a boar that the hawks could not, by flying into its ear and driving it mad.[37]
It was a sacred bird to the Druids, who considered it "king of all birds",[38] and used its musical notes for divination.[citation needed] The shape-shifting Fairy Queen took the form of a wren, known as "Jenny Wren" in nursery rhymes.[citation needed] A wren's feather was thought to be a charm against disaster or drowning.[citation needed]
The wren also features in the legend of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who supposedly was betrayed by the noisy bird as he attempted to hide from his enemies. Traditionally, Saint Stephen's Day (26 December) has been commemorated by Hunting the Wren, wherein young wrenboys would catch the bird and then ritually parade it around town, as described in the traditional "Wren Song". The Wren, the Wren, the king of all birds, Saint Stephen's day was caught in the furze. Although he is little, his family's great, I pray you, good landlady, give us a treat.[39] The tradition, and the significance of the wren as a symbol and sacrifice of the old year, is discussed in Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough.[40]
According to Suetonius, the assassination of Julius Caesar was foretold by an unfortunate wren. On the day before the Ides of March, a wren was seen being pursued in a frenzy by various other birds. With a conspicuous sprig of laurel clamped in its beak, the wren flew desperately into the Roman Senate, but there its pursuers overtook it and tore it to pieces.[41]
Cultural depictions
- The old British farthing coin featured a wren on the reverse side from 1937 to 1960. The wren was chosen because it was thought of as Britain's smallest bird.[42]
- Wrens have been featured on postage stamps from Albania, Alderney, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Britain, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, the Netherlands, San Marino, the United States,[b] and Vatican City.[44]
Notes
- Historically, the name "wren" was used for several unrelated but very small birds, notably "Golden-crested Wren" or "Golden-crowned Wren" (now goldcrest), "Willow Wren" (now willow warbler) and "Wood Wren" (now wood warbler);[34] these legends may have developed from these species, rather than Eurasian wren, particularly so the goldcrest with its even smaller size and its golden crown signifying kingship. See Goldcrest#In culture for additional detail and citations.
- The 1999 U.S. stamp features a "winter wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)" of the Pacific Coast Rain Forest; this bird was subsequently classified as the Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus).[43]
