Winter wren a winter inspiration

The winter wren is a secretive bird that flits about the tangles and roots of fallen trees, moss and ferns. It is a difficult bird to see, but with some patience after obscure movement is detected in thick undergrowth, an inquisitive Lilliputian usually appears bobbing its head while uttering a two-note alarm. This tiny wren is brown and covered with fine, dark barring. Its tail is stubby, but stands erect in typical wren-like fashion.

Despite its diminutive size, this bird has proven its ability to endure harsh elements. Being the only wren in Eurasia, it is thought to have migrated there years ago through the Bering Strait into Siberia and then onward.

While the male winter wren usually builds several false nests to confuse intruders, the oven-like real nest is built in a rotten stump, root clump or under pealing bark. The insects and wood-borers that abound in that particular habitat are all this wren needs for a food source.

Its name notwithstanding, the robust winter wren probably knows better than to stay in our region when the north wind of late fall begins to blow. Since southwestern Montana is at the eastern limits of its range, at best, the winter wren will most likely be encountered in the damp thickets of our forests only during summer. On the other hand, this is a bird that the traveler should look for all year round in the more lush thickets associated with the forests west of the divide.

Many of the wren species have beautiful songs that rise from the diverse habitat within which each species dwells. The winter wren is no different. When one hears its rich, melodic song echo through the silence of a still, lonely forest, it is difficult not to be inspired. As if to announce "all is well," this lively creature can lift the spirit of all who listen during any season.