Thryomanes
| Bewick's wren | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Suborder: | Passeri |
| Infraorder: | Passerida |
| Family: | Troglodytidae |
| Genus: |
Thryomanes P.L. Sclater, 1862 |
| Species: | T. bewickii |
| Binomial name | |
|
Thryomanes bewickii (Audubon, 1829) |
|
| Subspecies | |
|
1–2 dozen living, 2 recently extinct; see article text |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
|
1–2 dozen living, 2 recently extinct; see article text
The Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii) is a wren native to North America. At about 14 cm (5.5 in) long, it is grey-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. It eats insects and spiders, which it gleans from vegetation or finds on the ground.
Its historic range was from southern British Columbia, Nebraska, southern Ontario, and southwestern Pennsylvania, Maryland, south to Mexico, Arkansas and the northern Gulf States. However, it is now extremely rare east of the Mississippi River.
John James Audubon is credited with having first described a specimen of the Bewick's wren, collecting the first known specimen in 1821. The Bewick's Wren is named after Audubon's friend Thomas Bewick, an English engraver and natural historian.
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.
...
Wikipedia