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Wrentit The wrentit
is a little native bird of California. Its head,
beak, and eyes resemble those of a tit, but its
long tail is held at almost a right angle to its
body like a wren. It is the only American member of
the mostly Asian family of babblers (Timaliidae).
How it got here is a mystery. Found from
northern Oregon to Baja California, the wrentit is
a common resident west of deserts, along the coast
and in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
Its habitat is
the low, dense, stiff brush of the chaparral,
coastal sage scrub, and forests with dense shrub
understories. It can also be found in the mesquite
thickets east of the Anza-Borrego
Desert. The wrentit
is a small brown song bird with fluffy olive-brown
or dark brown feathers on its back, and paler or
pinkish brown feathers with faint streaks on its
underside. Standing out against its pale gray face,
its eyes have a pale whitish-yellow inner area with
a darker outer rim. The brown bill is stubby and
straight like that of a chickadee. The wings are
short and rounded, and the long tail is rounded as
well, often held up at an angle. Males and females,
as well as immature birds look alike. They get to
be about 6 inches (14-15 cm) in length and weigh
about 0.46 to 0.56 ounces (13-16 g) Not easily
spotted in the dense growth of the chaparral, the
wrentit is usually heard before its seen. It has
very clear and sharp, whistled "pit" notes that
repeat and become more and more rapid, followed by
a descending trill. The song has been compared to
the sound a bouncing ping pong ball makes. Males
and females sing all year to advertise their
territory and to communicate with each other. When
another wrentit comes on their territory, the
owners will quickly fly up to them, their head
feathers erect, and sing or scold. They also make a
catlike purr. Wrentits
mate for life and are known as monogamous. They
keep in close contact with each other, preening
each other, and huddling close together when
roosting. They spend all of their adult life within
the territory they choose in their first year, and
rarely move farther than 1312 feet (400 m) from the
site where they were born. They will fly from bush
to bush with short, choppy flights due to their
small wing size, and hesitate to cross open spaces
more than 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 m). Their nests
are built in dense shrubbery like Ceanothus,
Manzanita, coastal sage or Coyote Brush. Shaped
like an open cup, it is made of grasses and bark
strips held together with insect silk, and lined
with soap plant or grass. The outside is sometimes
decorated with lichen to camouflage it. The nest is
built in the crotch of coastal sage or coyote
brush. Old nest materials are often reused to make
new ones. Wrentits
usually lay 3-5 whitish blue or green eggs in the
summer months. Both parents will incubate the eggs
for 15-16 days, which is considered long. The
chicks are born naked, blind and helpless, like
most song birds, but are old enough to leave the
nest in 12-22 days. Both parents feed the
fledglings for almost 30 days. The young birds will
stay in their parents territory until the following
spring. A wrentit can live as long as 12
years. Wrentits
are omnivorous, and forage for insects and spiders
that it gleans from bark of shrubs and trees. It
also eats berries, small fruits and seeds. The
young seem to be fed only insects. Wrentits rarely
forage on the ground. Threats to
the wrentits come from jays and snakes, which feed
on the young, and feral cats and domestic animals.
Another threat is habitat destruction as more
people move into the chaparral. As chaparral and
underbrush is cut down, the wrentits habitat is
segmented into isolated areas. Hesitant to fly over
open spaces make the wrentit populations vulnerable
to extirpation (local extinction).
bibliography: "the wrentit is often found in
chaparral, and coastal scrub", http://www.laspilitas.com/California_birds/Babblers/Wrentits_in_your_ "All About
Birds", http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/ The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior, Alfred A. Knopf Inc., New York, 2001 "Audubon Watchlist - Wrentit", http://audubon2.org/webapp/watchlist/viewSpecies.jsp?id=223, 12/15/05 Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata)", http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/species/scrub/wrentit.htm, 12/10/05 "Wrentit", http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?fotogID=704&curPage Image Bibliography: |
