36. Pacific Wren

This is the smallest of the three species of wrens we have here at Leaning Oaks, with a distinctly shorter tail.  Pacific Wrens (Troglodytes pacificus) were separated from Winter Wrens (T. hiemalis) a short period of time ago, and it is one of those "new" names that still don't roll immediately off my tongue when I'm out birding. 

 Here they start singing shortly after Christmas - a wonderfuly, complex burbling song that seems impossibly loud and long coming from such a small bird. Males build mutiple nests, females choose one to their liking.   On cold snaps, like the one we had last week, the number of sightings increase.   Either we have more than we think and they become very active in colder weather, or, more likely, the numbers of Pacific Wrens are augmented by birds from higher elevations or latitudes. 

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