Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      Sedge Meadow
      or Fields/ Pastures

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: Sedge Wrens were originally found in mesic to wet prairies and sedge meadows, but after European settlement they also began breeding in the lusher hayfields. The bird uses drier areas in years with low rainfall. In Michigan, males defend territories in areas with abundant small-leafed sedges and cattails early in the season, while later in the summer goldenrods, asters, and vervains may form the dominant territory plant life. Most Sedge Wren observations (15 out of 28) made during the Atlas Habitat Survey occurred in sedge or grass wetlands and most of the rest in pastures and hayfields.

The number of breeding Sedge Wrens has declined in the state. Intensive agricultural development, along with the loss of sedge marshes and hayfields to industrial and residential development, may be the present culprits. Fragmentation of the remaining habitat may compound the problem for this species. Protecting the wetlands that are left, especially edge meadows and blue-joint grass flats, is clearly the most important effort that can be taken in Michigan to improve Sedge Wren numbers.

Habitat: Breeding: Sedge meadows, shallow sedge marshes with scattered shrubs and little or no standing water, coastal brackish marshes of Spartina patens with scattered low shrubs and herbs. Wintering: Tidal sedge meadows and marshes.

Special Habitat Requirements: Sedge meadows.

Habitat: Grassy marshes, sedgy meadows. Breeds mostly in damp meadows of grass or sedges, growth and scattered bushes. Generally not deep-water marsh, but may be along their grassy edges. Winters in rank weedy meadows, coastal prairies.

Diet: Mostly insects. Diet is not known in detail, but feeds on a wide variety of insects including true bugs, beetles, moths, caterpillars, grasshoppers, ants, flies. Also eats many spiders. Forages very low in dense growth of sedges and grass, creeping about and searching for insects among the vegetation and on the ground. May sometimes make short flights to catch insects in the air.

Nest: Male may build several incomplete "dummy" nests that are never used. Real nest is built very low among standing grass or sedges in wet meadows, up to 3 feet above the ground, usually hard to find. Nest is a round globular ball woven of sedges and grasses, with a small entrance on the side. The inside is lined with fine grass, plant down, animal hair, feathers.