Carolina Wren

Although a comparatively diminutive bird, the Carolina Wren has an outsized voice and personality that are instantly recognizable. Carolina Wrens sing year-round, at any time of day, and their songs serve a wide range of purposes: at different times of year, wrens will sing to attract mates, to maintain the marital bond (Carolina Wrens mate for life), and to defend their territory from invaders. They are born musicians, with a repertoire of up to thirty distinct songs, most variations on an insistent “teakettle-teakettle-teakettle”. Combined with their fearlessness in singing from exposed perches, their loud song makes them easy to spot and identify. Carolina Wrens are food and habitat generalists, and are equally at home nesting in a potted plant or mailbox as they are in dense woodland. These handsome and honey-voiced birds are easily attracted to backyard bird feeders and nest boxes, particularly in the winter, ensuring a house full of music all year long.

Compiled by Owen Moorhead. Sources include the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society.