Many familiar birds produce just one brood of young per year — tree swallows, purple martins, Baltimore orioles, ducks and geese, and red-winged blackbirds among them. Eastern bluebirds, American robins, barn swallows, and house wrens are among the recurrent nesters, and are still vocal.
Several people visiting our yard lately comment on the singing of house wrens, and that it brings back good memories of a familiar sound from past summers. I agree. The clear, loud, bubbling full-throated song is sort of like the syllables "tsi, tsi, tsi, tsi, oodle, oodle, oodle," the pitch rising at the beginning and falling at the end. I listen through our screened windows to the gurgling song repeated over and over in our yard, on the shore of Lake Waconia. These wrens also give out chattering, scolding notes.
Despite its tiny size, about 4½ to 5 inches, and its drab gray-brown plumage, the house wren is as well-known as the American robin, for what it lacks in size and color, it supplies in voice and energetic activity. The house wren is a summer resident all over Minnesota, and, true to its name, it is often found near human dwellings.
The house wren can be found in burned-over northern forest areas, but they're uncommon in heavy urban development, intensive agriculture, or in dense forests. House wrens from the Upper Midwest spend winter in the Gulf states, eastern Texas, and Mexico. They are silent on winter territory as they search through dense thickets for insects. Both sexes look alike.
Jim Gilbert's observations have been part of the Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendars since 1977, and he is the author of five books on nature in Minnesota. He taught and worked as a naturalist for 50 years.
