Brown-throated Wren

Taxobox
name = Brown-throated Wren


status = "Not recognised"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Troglodytidae
genus = "Troglodytes"
species = "T. brunneicollis"
binomial = "Troglodytes brunneicollis"
binomial_authority = Sclater, 1858
synonyms = The Brown-throated Wren ("Troglodytes brunneicollis") is a mostly Mexican bird in the wren family, often considered a subspecies of the House Wren.Citation | last = Lepage | first = Denis | year = 2003–2007 | title = Avibase - the world bird database | url = http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/avibase.jsp?pg=summary&lang=EN&id=2D55E32F42539227&ts=1190595344906 | accessdate = Sept. 22, 2007] Citation | last1 = Howell | first1 = Steve N. G. | last2 = Webb | first2 = Sophie | title=A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1995 | pages = 568 | id=ISBN 0-19-854012-4]

Range and habitat

This species is fairly common, common in some areas, in oak and pine-oak woods and clearings in the highlands of Mexico (1600m to 3000m elevation) from Oaxaca north to Coahuila and Sonora and in neighboring southeastern Arizona.

Description

Its appearance is very similar to the House Wren's, 11.5 to 12.5 cm (4.5 to 4.7 inches) long, with brown head and upperparts, barred with black on the wings and narrow tail. It has a stronger buff eyebrow stripe and black eyestripe than the House Wren. Below it is buffy, grayer (more like the House Wren) in subspecies "cahooni" of northern Mexico and Arizona, more ochre in the other subspecies. The flanks and undertail coverts have dark brown bars.

The voice is also similar to the House Wren's. The song consists of "scratchy, chortling, warbling, and trilling" sounds, and there are scolding calls starting with a "ch" sound, as well as a mewing call.Howell and Webb op. cit., p. 567 (House Wren)] One sound not in the House Wren's repertoire is "a bright springy trill, "tseeeurr" or "ssreeuur", suggesting Rock Wren."

The Brown-throated Wren's behavior is, perhaps unsurprisingly, similar to the House Wren's: typically skulking but not infrequently visible, especially when singing from an open perch.

Classification

Some authorities do not list the Brown-throated Wren as a separate species. [Citation | author = BirdLife International | year = 2004–2006 | title = 2007 IUCN Red List - Search | url = http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/search-basic | accessdate = Sept. 24, 2007] [Citation | title = Check-list of North American Birds | year = 1998–2006 | url = http://www.aou.org/checklist/index.php3 | accessdate = Sept. 24, 2007 | author = American Ornithologists' Union] [Citation | last = Clements | first = James F. | author-link = James F. Clements | year = 2007 | title = The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World | publisher = Cornell University Press | edition = Sixth | isbn = 978-0-8014-4501-9, according to Lepage, "op. cit."] An argument for lumping it with the House Wren is that House Wrens in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico have characters intermediate between the two species.

Here the Brown-throated Wren is considered a separate species following the "Handbook of the Birds of the World". A 2005 DNA study corroborated this split by suggesting that the Brown-throated Wren was not only a separate species but likely not the House Wren's closest relative. [Citation | last1 = Martínez Gómez | first1 = Juan E. | last2 = Barber | first2 = Brian R. | last3 = Peterson | first3 = A. Townsend | year = 2005 | title = Phylogenetic position and generic placement of the Socorro Wren ("Thryomanes sissonii") | journal = Auk | volume = 122 | issue = 1 | pages = 50–56. | doi = 10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122 [0050:PPAGPO] 2.0.CO;2 | url = http://www.specifysoftware.org/Informatics/bios/biostownpeterson/MBP_A_2005.pdf | format = pdf] For further information, see "Troglodytes".

As a separate species, it comprises five subspecies: "brunneicollis, cahooni, compositus, nitidus", and "vorhiesi".

References