The rufous-and-white wren (''Thryophilus rufalbus'') is a small

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

of the

wren Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...

family. It is a resident breeding species from southwesternmost Mexico to northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. It was formerly placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Thryothorus'' (Mann et al., 2006). This large wren breeds in lowlands and foothills from sea level up to altitude in dry forests or, in wetter areas, more open scrubby woodland. In

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, it mainly occurs on the Pacific side of the central mountain ranges Its flask-shaped nest is constructed high in a tree or shrub. The female alone incubates the three or four greenish-blue eggs for about two weeks to hatching, and the young fledge in about the same length of time again. The adult rufous-and-white wren is long and weighs . It has chestnut brown upperparts with a darker crown, strong white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

, brown stripe through the eye and black streaking on the cheeks. The underparts are white, with black barring on the lower belly and brown flanks. The wings and tail are barred with black. Young birds have duller upperparts and buff-tinged underparts. The subspecies ''T. r. minlosi'' of the

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

foothills of Venezuela has a greyish tinge to the crown and underparts. The call of this species is a sharp ' or explosive ''tuck'', and the song is a melodious and very distinctive sequence of slow hooting whistles, such as '. Pairs may duet, with the second bird responding with a purring '. The rufous-and-white wren forages actively in low vegetation or on the ground in pairs; it is a shy species more often heard than seen. It mainly eats insects, spiders and other

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s During an

El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

-driven food shortage, rufous-and-white wrens were observed killing

southern house wren The southern house wren (''Troglodytes musculus'') is a very small passerine bird in the wren family Troglodytidae. It is found from southern Mexico to southern Chile and southern Argentina. The name ''troglodytes'' means "hole dweller", and is ...

nestlings, possibly to reduce competition for resources.

References

*Hilty, Steven L. (2003): ''Birds of Venezuela''. Christopher Helm, London. *Mann, Nigel I.; Barker, F. Keith; Graves, Jeff A.; Dingess-Mann, Kimberly A. & Slater, Peter J. B. (2006): Molecular data delineate four genera of "Thryothorus" wrens. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 40: 750–759. (HTML abstract) *Stiles, F. Gary & Skutch, Alexander Frank (1989): ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica''. Comistock, Ithaca. {{Taxonbar, from=Q4777047 rufous-and-white wren Birds of Central America Birds of El Salvador Birds of South America rufous-and-white wren Taxa named by Frédéric de Lafresnaye