Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

      (Spruce/Fir (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or ( Hemlock (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Mixed Northern Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Northern White Cedar (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Black Spruce (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Lowland Mixed (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
    containing:
      (Stand/Gap Openings and (Dead Down Woody Debris or Snags))

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: The summer habitat of the Winter Wren is characterized by small openings in coniferous forest or mixed northern hardwoods. It is frequently found in spruce forests and bogs, white cedar swamps, mixed forests, especially hemlock and hardwood swamps, and the edges of bogs. In mature forests, it may occur in openings where wind-thrown or uprooted trees have added structural diversity to the forest floor. This wren seems to be most common where natural disturbance has created openings or edges in the relatively mature forests, but it may also be found in slash following lumbering operations, especially at the forest edge.

Nests are bulky, mossy structures lined with feathers and hair. They are frequently placed among roots of overturned trees or in crevices from near the ground to about 2 m up.

During migration and winter, look for this furtive wren in dense tangles and thickets, especially along streams and near wetlands.

The Winter Wren may be vulnerable to more intensive land use. Cutting of forests susceptible to windthrow (that is where root systems are shallow), will result in habitat reduction for this species. Draining or filling wetlands, cottage and resort development in or adjacent to wetlands, and alteration of water flow through wetlands are all potential factors in the loss of Winter Wren habitat.

The Winter Wren may be a forest-interior species in parts of Ontario and area-sensitive in adjacent Wisconsin where it was not found in narrow linear forest tracts of coniferous and mixed-coniferous forests with minimal disturbance to hydrology would benefit the Winter Wren.

Habitat: Breeding: Usually in or near dense undergrowth of damp coniferous forests, in thickets near woodland streams, banks of marshy ditches, piles of slash, boreal bogs, usually with a dead log from which to sing. Wintering: Dense undergrowth, especially in moist areas.

Special Habitat Requirements: Moist coniferous woodlands with low woody vegetation or low-lying cold bogs or swamps. Stevens, however, noted birds in mixed and hardwood forests on north-facing slopes in the mountains of Virginia.

Habitat: Woodland underbrush; conifer forests (summer). Breeds mostly in moist coniferous forest with an understory of dense thickets, often close to water. Winters in very dense low growth in woods, especially along streambanks or among tangles, brushpiles, and fallen logs.

Diet: Mostly insects. Feeds on a wide variety of insects, including many beetles, caterpillars, true bugs, ants, small wasps. Also eats many spiders, plus some millipedes and snails. Occasionally may eat tiny fish. Also sometimes eats berries, perhaps mainly in fall and winter.

Nest: Site is on any kind of natural cavity close to the ground (lower than about 6 feet), including holes among upturned roots of downed trees, cavities in rotten stumps, old woodpecker holes, crevices among rocks, holes in streambanks, sometimes under cabin porches. Within cavity, both sexes help build nest of grass, weeds, moss, rootlets, lined with animal hair and feathers.