Return of a Nemesis Bird

In December 2001, on a birding trip with my parents, Robert had the audacity to see a lifer winter wren that I did not see. (Even before no-fault divorce, seeing a life bird that your birding spouse did not see was considered grounds for divorce in several states.) It was almost two more years before I saw one, at Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park (Washington state). Three years later, I saw another one in a state park in California.



At that point, the only North American wren left on my list was the cactus wren, and after many attempts to find one, it finally happened in South Texas, January 2009. We got up bright and early to go out looking for this and other good birdies, and while Robert was putting equipment into the car in the hotel parking lot, I found one singing from the roof of the hotel. We kept seeing them throughout the trip, too, in four different locations.

Thus, I triumphantly closed the book on wrens.

Until last Wednesday.

Robert informed me that in the July 2010 issue of The Auk, the American Ornithological Union published their latest supplement to the checklist of North American birds. This included splitting what was winter wren (the amusingly named Troglodytes troglodytes - "cave-dweller") into three species based on reproductive isolation: pacific wren (T. pacificus), winter wren (T. hiemalis), and Eurasian wren (T. troglodytes). The pacific wren was not named for its peaceful nature, but rather for the fact that it is the species of wren that breeds along the Pacific Ocean coast of the U.S. Winter wren now refers to the species that breeds in the northern and eastern U.S., as shown in this map.



The upshot is, I didn't have winter wren, I did have winter wren, and now I don't have winter wren (though I do have pacific wren). My mom (and my brother in law, who helped my mom ID the bird using an iPod app) also has only pacific wren from a visit to California. Robert has both species.

Fortunately, I am currently living within the winter range of the winter wren. So I hope that 6 months from now, I will have a full complement of North American wrens once more.