The Urban Pantheist

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: Olmsted Park.

Urban species #345: Carolina wren Thryothorus ludovicianus

It wasn't until the late 1800's that someone noticed Carolina wrens nesting in New England. Now they're found in southern New England year round, picking through the leaf litter in the shrubby understory of the forests, and in wooded city parks. The Boston area in winter can be a hard place for an animal like the Carolina wren to eat all the insects it needs to survive. Other invertebrate-eating birds like the American robin thrive in northern cities, because of the ornamental trees and shrubs provide copious fruit in winter. The Carolina wren eats vastly more animal than plant food, and so must find larvae, pupae, and sluggish adult insects under the leaves in the bushes, and on the bark of trees. Severe winters push this bird south, so its range fluctuates. Future warming may expand the range of North America's most common wren further north still.