Bewick's Wren

Taxobox
name = Bewick's Wren
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1


image_width = 220px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
subordo = Passeri
infraordo = Passerida
familia = Troglodytidae
genus = "Thryomanes"
genus_authority = Sclater, 1862
species = "T. bewickii"
binomial = "Thryomanes bewickii"
binomial_authority = (Audubon, 1829)
subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
subdivision = 1–2 dozen living, 2 recently extinct; see article text
synonyms ="Thryomanes leucophrys"
"Thryothorus bewickii"
"Thryothorus brevicauda"
"Thryothorus brevicaudus"

The Bewick's Wren ("Thryomanes bewickii") is a wren native to North America. At about 14 cm long, it is gray-brown above, white below, with a long white eyebrow. While similar in appearance to the Carolina Wren, it has a long tail that is tipped in white. The song is loud and melodious, much like the song of other wrens. It lives in thickets, brush piles and hedgerows, open woodlands and scrubby areas, often near streams. Its range is from southern British Columbia, Nebraska, southern Ontario, and southwestern Pennsylvania south to Mexico, Arkansas and the northern Gulf States. It usually lays 5–7 eggs that are white with brown spots.

This is currently the only species of its genus, "Thryomanes". The Socorro Wren, formerly placed here too, is actually a close relative of the House Wren complex, as indicated by biogeography and mtDNA NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence analysis, whereas "Thryomanes" seems not too distant from the Carolina Wren. [Martínez Gómez "et al." (2005)]

ubspecies

A list of commonly recognized subspecies follows. Two have gone extinct during the 20th century, mainly due to habitat destruction and cat predation.Kennedy & White (1997)]

* "T. b. bewickii" (Audubon). Midwestern USA from NE Kansas to Missouri and E Texas. Includes "T. b. pulichi" as a junior synonym.
* "T. b. altus" Aldrich. Formerly in Appalachian region; S Ontario to South Carolina, now quite rare. Possibly an endangered subspecies, but possibly not distinct from "bewickii".
* "T. b. cryptus" Oberholser. Central Kansas to N Tamaulipas in Mexico. Includes "T. b. niceae". Southeastern birds are sometimes separated as "T. b. sadai".
* "T. b. eremophilus" Oberholser. E California inland, south to Zacatecas in Mexico.
* "T. b. calophonus" Oberholser. SW British Columbia, Canada, to W Oregon. Includes "T. b. ariborius" and "T. b. hurleyi". The former name refers to the population found in the area of Seattle and Vancouver; these birds are sometimes called Seattle Wren.
* "T. b. marinensis" Grinnell. Coastal NW California to Marin County.
* "T. b. spilurus" (Vigors). Coastal California from San Francisco Bay to Santa Cruz County.
* "T. b. drymoecus" Oberholser. SW Oregon to California Central Valley.
* "T. b. atrestus" Oberholser. S Oregon to W Nevada. Probably not valid.
* "T. b. correctus" Grinnell. SW coastal California to Mexican border; possibly synonym of "charienturus".
* "T. b. charienturus" Oberholser. N Baja California Peninsula to about 30°N.
* "T. b. magdalenensis" Huey. SW Baja California Peninsula from 26 to 24°N.
* "T. b. nesophilus" Oberholser. Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Anacapa Islands, California; probably also Santa Barbara and San Nicolas; found on the mainland in winter. Possibly synonym of "charienturus".
* "T. b. catalinae" Grinnell. Santa Catalina Island, California; found on the mainland in winter. Possibly synonym of "charienturus".
* "T. b. cerroensis" (Anthony). Cedros Island (Mexico) and W central Baja California. Includes "T. b. atricauda".
* "T. b. leucophrys" (Anthony). San Clemente Bewick's Wren. Formerly San Clemente Island, California.:Extinct since the 1940s due to habitat destruction by feral goats and sheep. Also called "T. b. anthonyi". Observations of "leucophrys" in 1897Kaeding (1905)] refer to "cerroensis"; at that time, the San Clemente wren was considered a good species which included the Cedros population.
* "T. b. brevicauda" Ridgway. Guadalupe Bewick's Wren. Formerly Guadalupe Island, Mexico.:This subspecies is extinct since (probably) the late 1890s due to habitat destruction by feral goats and predation by feral cats. Overcollecting by scientists might have hastened its demiseAnthony (1901)] . It was last collected (3 specimens) by Anthony and Streator in May 1892 and seen but found to be "nearly extinct" on March 22, 1897. It was not found by Anthony in several searches between 1892 and 1901 and considered certainly extinct by 1901; a thorough search in 1906 confirmed the subspecies' extinction [Thayer & Bangs (1908)] . [The often-reported extinction date of "1903" seems to be the first record of its absence rather than the last record of its presenceFact|date=October 2007 . Actually, there appears to be no post-1897 record. The schedule of Anthony's visits after 1892 is not known; if he visited the island before 1897 he must have overlooked the last remnant of the population and thus his extinction date of 1901 may be called into question. By the balance of evidence, it is likely however that the subspecies became extinct between 1897 and 1901.]
* "T. b. murinus" (Hartlaub). Eastern and central Mexico.
* "T. b. bairdi" (Salvin and Goodman). SE Mexico to S Puebla.
* "T. b. percnus" (Oberholser). Jalisco to Guerrero, Mexico.

The last three are sometimes united as "T. b. mexicanus". The validity of subspecies needs to be verified using freshly-caught birds and/or molecular data, as specimens are prone to foxing quickly.

Footnotes

References

* (1901): The Guadalupe Wren. "Condor" 3(3): 73. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v003n03/p0073-p0073.pdf PDF fulltext]
*|year=2004|id=52008|title=Thryomanes bewickii|downloaded=08 October 2007
* (1905): Birds from the West Coast of Lower California and Adjacent Islands (Part II). "Condor" 7(4): 134-138. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v007n05/p0134-p0138.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1997): Bewick's Wren ("Thryomanes bewickii"). "In:" aut|Poole, A. & Gill, F. (eds.): "The Birds of North America" 315. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA & The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
* (2005): Phylogenetic position and generic placement of the Socorro Wren ("Thryomanes sissonii"). "Auk" 122(1): 50–56. [English with Spanish abstract] DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122 [0050:PPAGPO] 2.0.CO;2 [http://www.specifysoftware.org/Informatics/bios/biostownpeterson/MBP_A_2005.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1908): The Present State of the Ornis of Guadaloupe Island. "Condor" 10(3): 101-106. doi|10.2307/1360977 [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v010n03/p0101-p0106.pdf PDF fulltext]

External links

* [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i7190id.html Bewick's Wren Information] - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bewicks_Wren.html Bewick's Wren Species Account] - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
* [http://www.sdakotabirds.com/species/bewicks_wren_info.htm Bewick's Wren Information] - South Dakota Birds and Birding