Winter Wren
Learn to identify the Winter Wren by ear. Master the "tweedlee-tweedlee-tweedlee-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Winter Wren sounds like
The Winter Wren is North America’s smallest wren, a compact, round-bodied songbird with a stubby tail that is almost always cocked upward. Draped in rich chocolate-brown plumage heavily barred on the flanks, wings, and tail, it skitters mouse-like through dense, dark undergrowth. Though often unseen, its explosive, cascading song rings through moist coniferous forests.
“tweedlee-tweedlee-tweedlee-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti”
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the Winter Wren
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the Winter Wren's sounds in this interactive in-app lesson.
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Where you'll hear it
Breeds across boreal Canada, the northern Great Lakes, and the Appalachians. Winters from the northern U.S. south to the Gulf Coast and Mexico.
Favors mature, mossy conifer and mixed forests with dense understory and downed logs; in winter also found in brushy ravines, stream edges, and tangled thickets.
Breeding: late April–August; southward migration September–October; wintering November–March; northward migration March–April.