Winter Wren in Wrack and Ruin
Winter Wren in Wrack and Ruin
Bad luck for creekside trees is good habitat for Winter Wrens...
Every winter, I find a Winter Wren along the creek, in Jefferson County, Iowa. Almost always, it’s a single bird. It will be picking its way through fallen trees whose roots have been dragged from the stream bank by the current.
Occasionally a tinkling song attracts my attention. More often, a blink of movement draws my eye to the tiny bird. This is the smallest and darkest wren of Iowa. And the one with the shortest tail, which sticks straight up.
Along Crow Creek, Winter Wrens like the steep bank, covered in the wrack and ruin of trees. The messier, the better. The birds creep in and out of caves made of tangled vegetation. Bad luck for the trees is good habitat for Winter Wrens.
These birds are hunters. They like insects. Spiders and ticks are scrumptious. Minuscule shrimp-like creatures (amphipods) also find their way into Winter Wrens’ stomachs. Berries and seeds taste good to them too, but tiny invertebrates are their mainstay. Somehow they find enough to eat in an Iowa winter, when most insectivorous birds have fled southward.
Since it’s such good living for Winter Wrens, I feel happy about the wild banks of the creek. It is life itself to the greatest of tiny wrens.
Nice to hear the advantages of a messy tangle of branches and tree debris. I'll probably not see a winter wren but so happy to learn about them and see them in your photos
We’ve had tons of branches and even some trees fall this winter. As much as possible we want to leave these in our yard as habitat. Some we are moving to better locations - such as not in the driveway!