Carolina Wren

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Troglodytidae
Genus: Thryothorus
Species: ludovicianus

La. passer sparrow, small bird
La. forma form, kind, species
Gr. trogle hole or hollow
Gr. dutes burrower
Gr. troglodutes cave dweller
Gr. thruon a reed
Gr. thouros leaping
La. ludovicius Louis
La. -anus belonging to
La. ludovicianus for the Louisiana
Territory named for Louis XIV

Largest Wren, just a little larger than the House Wren, five to six inches long, about four inches upright.

Ernest J. Sawyer

Brownish upper, darker finely barred wings and tail. Cream-buff under side and whiter throat. Thin white streak from the beak, over the eye, to the back of the head. Thin, slightly downward curved beak. Typical hunkered down wren stance with upright tail when alerted.

USGS Carolina Wren Map

Inhabits woodlands, groves, farms and small towns from the southeastern corner of South Dakota, throughout the lower Great Lakes to parts of Maine and from the southern tip of Texas and northeastern Mexico to southern Florida.

Builds bulky nests of leaves, grass and feathers lined with finer grasses and hair often in shady ravines, wooded and rocky banks of streams, in log piles, brush heaps, natural or abandoned tree cavities.

Nests anywhere about houses and sheds, sometimes on beams, in crevices and bird houses and platforms.

Lays around three to six speckled white or pinkish eggs which hatch after about two weeks incubation and young leave the nest in another two weeks.

Louis Agassiz Fuertes

Curious, nervous and almost too quick to notice, it investigates every nook and cranny in foliage, fallen timber and rock mounds in search of insects, seeds and berries.

A variety of songs thought to have been imitations gave it the mocking wren nickname. One of the few birds that sings at night. Devoted to mates. Resources