Young Wrens

My favorite forest singer of all is the Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus) . Their trilling song soars through the trees in the spring. It is shocking that such a complex voice can come from such a tiny shy bird. I typically catch brief glimpses of them as they dart along the forest floor but for a short spell, when the young birds are first exploring from the nest, they can be found exploring the trail until their parent chips danger warnings at them. It feels special to catch them at that moment when they are fresh and curious about everything.

Our wren population seems to have increased in recent years. At the treehouse, I trim out the False Azalea (Rhododendron menziesii) and Salmonberry from our Huckleberry patch and I think the wrens love the larger stacks of woody debris to nest and hide in. I was going to clean them all up until I noticed the wrens using them! If you want to attract wrens and you live along the forest fridge consider adding a dead hedge or piling up woody debris under a tree for them to use.

Even young wrens are fast and ever-moving so for this painting I relied on my observations and multiple photo references of the species. Wrens look very similar and it was only in 2010 (according to the Cornell Bird Lab) that scientists split the Winter Wren population into 3 species: Pacific, Winter, and Eurasian Wrens. I often see them hop from twig to twig and they sometimes look like mice on the moss. In this painting I also included some tiny huckleberry plants and dogwood in bloom as these birds are really tucked into the low plants.

Young Wrens

watercolor