Mountain wren (Troglodytes solstitialis)

PNYC San Alberto, Pasco, Peru. Nov 11, 2020

comments (10)

Christine Young

Lion

I love wrens! They are so perky and charismatic creatures. Have you ever heard/read Aesop's fable about the eagle and the wren? It's about a competition among birds to see which one could fly the highest, with the winner being crowned the 'king of the birds'. The eagle flew the highest before tiring, but before it could declare victory, the wren popped out of the eagle's wings, flew a bit higher, and declared victory...thus proving that being clever is better than brute strength.

Posted 4 years ago
1. Thibaud Aronson
  
  Lion
  
  Ah no I'd never heard that one! Posted 4 years ago
2. Barry
  
  Lion
  
  I had heard that one - bird folklore is an endlessly fascinating topic. Posted 4 years ago
3. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    It is super interesting ;). My kids love hearing fables. Posted 4 years ago

Calbost Niel

Lion

Stunning shot Thibaud

Niel Posted 4 years ago
1. Thibaud Aronson
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks Niel Posted 4 years ago

Barry

Lion

Nice picture - I saw my first one of these in Ecuador last year. What amazes me about wrens: there is one species in Europe, 9 in North America, and almost 80 in South America! Pretty good evidence of where they evolved, I'd say. Posted 4 years ago
1. Thibaud Aronson
  
  Lion
  
  Yes! It's one of my favorite cases of funny biogeography! What's interesting is that, after the gnatcatchers (at least 20 species - exclusively New World), the next two most closely related families are treecreepers, which have one species in North America and 9 in the Old World, and nuthatches, which have 4 species in North America and 24 in Eurasia, mainly in tropical Asia. Posted 4 years ago
2. 1. Barry
    
    Lion
    
    Great example. I often wonder at the limits as well. Obviously large oceans or mountain ranges will restrict distribution, but on the island of Hispaniola, the Palmchat (national bird of the Dominican Republic), a thrush-sized bird is not found on several nearby islands although it would appear to be strong enough to fly there and the habitat is very similar. Posted 4 years ago
  2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
      
      Lion
      
      And it's its own family too! From what I read, it's part of a weird group, with waxwings, the silky flycatchers, the hypocolius and the hylocitrea (these last two each being their own family/subfamily). The palmchat is in Hispaniola, the hypocolius in Iran and the hylocitrea in Sulawesi, each alone today at the end of long evolutionary branches, which suggests there's been quite a bit of extinction. They might find some related fossils elsewhere in the Caribbean (or anywhere else) someday! Posted 4 years ago

The Mountain wren

The mountain wren is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in the Andes or north-west Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Info 1 0

Similar species: Perching Birds

Species identified by Thibaud Aronson

By Thibaud Aronson

Uploaded Apr 21, 2021. Captured Nov 11, 2020 09:37 in Oxapampa, Peru.

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Canon EOS 7D Mark II
f/8.0
1/200s
ISO6400
299mm