House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) Natalie Dubois
Grandville, Kent Co., MI (Click to view a comparison of Atlas I to II) 8/9/2005 © John Van Orman This species sponsored in memory of Donald Corser Rhead States for the winter months. The historical Both beloved and notorious, the House Wren’s breeding range likely included Michigan (Boies 1875, Gibbs 1880, Cook 1893) and areas further drab plumage belies its feisty nature and north (McIlwraith 1894), but began expanding bubbling song. A common summer inhabitant southward in the late 1880s as fragmentation of open, shrubby woodlands and forest edges, it and clearing of intact forest increased the easily makes its home in suburban areas and is availability of suitable habitat (Johnson 1998). frequently found nesting in backyard nest boxes. Distributions may be limited by temperature Perhaps the most studied passerine in North (Kendeigh 1963), which suggests the potential America, House Wrens have been the subject of for breeding distributions to be impacted by extensive research ranging from aspects of warming temperatures due to climate change physiology to behavior. Their propensity to (Zuckerberg et al. 2009). In Michigan, breeding puncture and remove eggs from the nests of ranges remained fairly constant between MBBA other birds was the subject of a cantankerous I and MBBA II. House Wrens are widely debate in the 1920s over the “character” of the distributed throughout the LP, being almost little bird (started by Sherman 1925a, 1925b, ubiquitous in townships across the southern and followed by a number of accounts in Bird- portion of the peninsula and becoming patchily Lore that same year). The behavior has been distributed towards the northern LP. Although implicated in population declines in at least two less widely distributed in the UP, similar other species: Bewick’s Wrens (Kennedy and patterns are observed with occurrences White 1996) and Eastern Bluebirds (Zeleny primarily at lower latitudes in the southern 1985). counties adjacent to Wisconsin and restricted
distributions further north. A preference for Distribution deciduous vegetation, smaller forest tracts, and House Wrens breed from coast to coast, across a open woodlands may account for lower broad region extending from the Carolinas, frequency of occurrence in the northern LP and central plains, and northern California UP. During MBBA I, evidence of breeding was northwards into the southern Canadian detected in 95% of townships in the SLP, 73% provinces, returning to the southern United
© 2011 Kalamazoo Nature Center House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) Natalie Dubois of townships in the NLP, and 26% of townships 1982-2007 from routes across Michigan show in the UP. In MBBA II, occurrences were 96%, patterns similar to USFWS Region 3 as a whole, 67%, and 35%, respectively. The atlas data indicating small but significant increases in suggest that distributions may have expanded abundance of approximately 1% per year. Well slightly in the UP, but appear fairly stable in the distributed throughout the Great Lakes states LP based on the township level data. and neighboring Canadian provinces, regional populations appear to be relatively stable. Breeding Biology However BBS data indicate modest declines in In southern Michigan, male House Wrens arrive the Northeast as well as in portions of in mid to late April, and the first females arrive Minnesota and northern Wisconsin (Sauer et al. several days to a week later. Arrival dates may 2008). Historically, changes in abundance have be slightly delayed further north. Upon arrival, been associated with land use changes. House males establish territories and begin Wrens have likely benefited from widespread constructing nests by placing a few to hundreds fragmentation and clearing of intact forests in of small sticks in available cavities. Females the central and eastern U.S., but densities select a single nest to line and typically lay a probably decrease in intensely developed areas. clutch of 5-7 eggs. Throughout their range in Conditions on the wintering grounds can also Michigan, House Wrens are frequently double- impact population abundance on the breeding brooded. In Barry County, early season range. clutches were initiated in May and late season clutches in mid-June through July. Some males Conservation Needs obtain second mates, and the occurrence of Both the global and state status of this species is polygyny depends in part on a male’s ability to secure (NatureServe 2009). Populations appear defend territories containing multiple cavities to be stable or increasing throughout much of (Johnson and Kermott 1991). Research on a the species’ range in Michigan and no specific Michigan population has shown that females management actions are planned at this time. mated to males with surplus cavities in their Population size may be limited by cavity territories lay larger clutches consisting of availability in some locations. Installation of proportionally more male offspring compared to nest boxes may increase numbers but may also females mated to males with a single cavity increase interference with nesting success of (Dubois et al. 2006). Genetic evidence from an other species. Illinois population indicates that extra pair young (i.e., those sired by a male other than the Literature Cited female’s social mate) can be fairly common Boies, A.H. 1875. A Catalogue of the Birds (Soukup and Thompson 1997). Ascertained to Occur in Southern Michigan. W.T.B. Schermerhorn, Hudson, Michigan, Abundance and Population Trends USA. (Click to view trends from the BBS) Cook, A.J. 1893. Birds of Michigan, 2nd ed. Partners in Flight estimates a population size of Michigan State Agriculture Experiment 310,000 individuals in Michigan, or 1.6% of the Station Bulletin 94. State Agricultural total North American population (PIF 2008). College, East Lansing, Michigan, USA. The BBS trend map for the time period from Dubois, N.S., E.D. Kennedy, and T. Getty. 1966-2003 suggests that populations may have 2006. Surplus nest boxes and the potential declined over this period in the NLP, but held for polygyny affect clutch size and offspring steady or increased in the SLP and UP (Sauer et sex ratio in house wrens. Proceedings of the al. 2008). More recent BBS estimates from
© 2011 Kalamazoo Nature Center House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) Natalie Dubois
Royal Society of London Series B 273: distributions in New York State. Global 1751-1757. Change Biology 15: 1866-1883. Gibbs, M. 1880. Annotated list of the birds of Suggested Citation Michigan. Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey 5: 481- Dubois, N. 2011. House Wren (Troglodytes 497. aedon). In A.T. Chartier, J.J. Baldy, and Johnson, L.S. 1998. House Wren (Troglodytes J.M. Brenneman, editors. The Second aedon). Account 380 in A. Poole and F. Gill, Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas. Kalamazoo editors. The Birds of North America. The Nature Center. Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, Accessed online at:
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