The song wren (''Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Taxonomy and systematics

At one time the song wren and the

musician wren The musician wren or organ wren (''Cyphorhinus arada'') is a species of wren named for its elaborate song. It is native to the Amazon rainforest in South America, from the lowlands into the foothills of the Andes. Taxonomy and systematics At o ...

(''Cyphorhinus arada'') were considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

. They, and possibly chestnut-breasted wren (''C. thoracicus''), form a

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021 The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

(IOC) and

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

(BLI) recognize the six subspecies listed below. The

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

does not recognize ''C. p. chocoanus''.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 15, 2019 *''C. p. richardsonii'' Salvin (1893) *''C. p. infuscatus'' Zimmer (1932) *''C. p. lawrencii'' Lawrence (1863) *''C. p. propinquus''

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places Australia * Todd River, an ephemeral river United States * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated c ...

(1919) *''C. p. chocoanus'' Meyer de Schauensee (1946) *''C. p. phaeocephalus''

Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society ...

(1860)

Description

The song wren is long and weighs . Its body is nearly uniformly brown, though sometimes paler on the breast. It has a chestnut throat and black bars on the wings and its very short tail. It has a patch of bare blue skin around the eye. The subspecies have some variations in color and intensity, and extensive descriptive details can be found in Pollock and Agin (2020).Pollock, H. S. and T. J. Agin (2020). Song Wren (''Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.sonwre1.01 retrieved July 20, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of song wren are distributed thus: *''C. p. richardsonii'', Caribbean side of southeastern Honduras and eastern Nicaragua *''C. p. infuscatus'', Caribbean side of Costa Rica and northwestern Panama *''C. p. lawrencii'', central Panama into extreme northwestern Colombia *''C. p. propinquus'', northern Colombia *''C. p. chocoanus'', western Colombia *''C. p. phaeocephalus'', southwestern Colombia to southern Ecuador The song wren inhabits the interiors of lowland

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

, especially those with much undergrowth. It shuns dry landscapes and well lighted areas.

Behavior

Feeding

The song wren forages almost exclusively on the forest floor, tossing and probing leaf litter. It is usually seen in pairs or small family groups. In the only detailed study of its diet, almost half of the prey was spiders with other small invertebrates making up most of the rest.

Breeding

The song wren constructs both dormitory nests for roosting and breeding nests. Both are gourd-shaped and constructed mostly of rootlets, strips of palm frond, and small twigs lined with leaf skeletons. Breeding nests have a well-defined cup that is sometimes lined with small feathers. Nests are constructed and maintained almost year-round. Breeding nests are placed in understory trees, often ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

'' trees that also host '' Pseudomyrmex'' ants. The female alone incubates the eggs and broods the young.

Vocalization

The song wren's song has been described as "clear, melodious whistles superimposed on harsh, henlike clucking". Both sexes sing year round to defend a territory. Variations in song between the sexes and in different parts of the range have been noted but not systematically studied.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the song wren as being of Least Concern. They are fairly common throughout their large range. However, habitat disturbance and fragmentation appear to negatively effect them, and their population is thought to be declining.