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Winter Wren

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	Winter Wren
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	Topics Winter Wren Topic Home The Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), also known as the Northern Wren, is a very small birdBird Birds are bipedal, warm-blooded, oviparous vertebrate animals characterized primarily by feathers, forelimbs modified as win... , a member of the mainly New WorldNew World The New World is one of the names used for the Americas.... wrenWren The true wrens are members of a mainly New World passerine bird family Troglodytidae containing 79 species.... family Troglodytidae. It is the only one of nearly sixty species in the family which occurs in the Old WorldOld World The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans before the voyages of Christopher Columbus; it includes Eu... ; in EuropeEurope Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth.... it is commonly known simply as the Wren. They are noteworthy among songbirds both because of their amazingly long and complex songs and because they are one of the few passerine species that has a distribution spanning both North America and Eurasia. It occurs in Europe, a belt of AsiaAsia Asia is the largest and most populous continent or region, depending on the definition.... from northern IranIran 'Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia.... and AfghanistanAfghanistan Afghanistan ; Persian : ?????? ?????? ?????????, Pashto: ? ????????? ?????? ???????) is a landlocked country at ... across to JapanJapan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea, and Russia, stretching from... , and North AmericaNorth America North America is a continent in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost fully in the western hemisphere.... . It is only migratoryBird migration Long-distance land bird migrationMany species of land migratory birds migrate very long distances, the most common pattern being ... in the northern parts of its range. The scientific name is taken from the GreekGreek language Greek has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any single language within the Indo-European family.... word "troglodytes" (from "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropodArthropod Arthropods are the largest phylum of animals and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others.... s or to roost. Taxonomy of the genus Troglodytes is currently unresolved, as recent molecular studies have suggested that CistothorusCistothorus *Cistothorus* is a genus of birds in the Troglodytidae family.... spp. and Thryorchilus spp. are within the cladeClade In cladistics, a clade is a group of organisms consisting of a single common ancestor and all the descendants of that ancest... currently defined by Troglodytes . A study of individuals in an overlap zone between two divergent subspeciesSubspecies Overview In zoology, as in other branches of biology, subspecies is the rank immediately subordinate to a species.... of winter wren in North AmericaNorth America North America is a continent in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost fully in the western hemisphere.... (Troglodytes troglodytes hiemalis in Eastern North America and Troglodytes troglodytes pacificus in Western North America), which differ substantially in song and genetics, found strong evidence for reproductive isolationReproductive isolation An important concept in evolutionary biology, reproductive isolation is a category of mechanisms that prevent two or more po... and suggested that the pacificus subspecies be promoted to the species level designation of Troglodytes pacificus . Description The 9–10.5 cm long Wren is rufous brown above, greyer beneath, barred with darker brown and grey, even on wings and tail. The bill is dark brown, the legs pale brown. Young birds are less distinctly barred. The plumageFeather Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds.... is subject to considerable variation, and where populations have been isolated, the variation has become fixed in one minor form or another. There are around 27 EurasiaEurasia Eurasia is the landmass composed of Europe and Asia.... n subspecies of this taxonomically complex bird, with around 12 more in North America. The disputed subspecies orii, the Daito Winter WrenDaito Winter Wren The Daito Winter Wren is a controversial subspecies of the Winter Wren.... , became extinct around 1940 – if it is indeed a valid taxon and not merely based on an anomaly. Thus in the British IslesBritish Isles Overview Great Britain, Ireland and several thousand smaller surrounding islands and islets form an archipelago off the northwest coast of ... , in addition to the typical bird, T. t. indigenus, there are two distinct insular forms; one, T. t. hirtensis, is confined to the island of St KildaSt Kilda, Scotland Overview St Kilda is an archipelago situated 64 kilometres west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean.... , and another, T. t. zetlandicus to ShetlandShetland Islands The Shetland Islands, also called Shetland formerly called *Hjaltland, comprise one of 32 council areas of S... . The St. Kilda Wren* is greyer above, whiter beneath, and with more abundant bars on the back; the Shetland Wren is darker. Taxonomy Recent taxonomies of the Troglodytes genus have shown that winter wrens are the most distantly related of all species within Troglodytes, and have shown that two other groups, the timberline wren (Thryorchilus browni) and the four species within the genusGenus Overview In the binomial nomenclature used worldwide, the name of an organism is composed of two parts: its genus name and a species... Cistothorus, are within the clade defined by all of the Troglodytes. To make Troglodytes monophyletic, Rice et al. (1999) proposed that winter wrens could be placed in their own genus, Nannus. Alternatively, as suggested by Gómez et al. (2005) , Troglodytes could be made more inclusive by assigning the Troglodytes genus to the current Thryorchilus and Cistothorus genera. By studying the songs and genetics of individuals in an overlap zone between two subspecies of winter wren within North America (Troglodytes troglodytes hiemalis in Eastern North America and Troglodytes troglodytes pacificus in Western North America), a study by Toews and Irwin (2008) found strong evidence of reproductive isolationReproductive isolation Summary An important concept in evolutionary biology, reproductive isolation is a category of mechanisms that prevent two or more po... between the two. It was suggested that the pacificus subspecies be promoted to the species level designation of Troglodytes pacificus with the common name of ‘Pacific wren’. By applying a molecular clockMolecular clock The molecular clock is a technique in genetics, which researchers use to date when two species diverged.... to the amount of mitochondrial DNAMitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA is DNA that is located in mitochondria.... sequence divergence between the two , it was estimated that Troglodytes pacificus and Troglodytes troglodytes last shared a common ancestor approximately 4.3 million years ago, long before the glacial cycles of the PleistocenePleistocene The Pleistocene epoch is part of the geologic timescale.... , thought to have promoted speciationSpeciation Speciation is the theory of the evolutionary process by which new biological species are believed by some to arise.... in many avian systems inhabiting the boreal forest of North America . Breeding The male Wren builds several nests, up to 6 or 7 in Europe, but fewer in North America. These are called "cock nests" but are never lined until the female chooses one to use. The normal round nest of grassGrass Grass generally describes a monocotyledonous green plant in the family Poaceae, botanically regarded as true grasses.... , mossMoss Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1-10 cm tall, occasionally more.... , lichenLichen Lichens are symbiotic associations of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner that can produce food for the lichen from sunli... s or leaves is tucked into a hole in a wall, tree trunk, crack in a rock or corner of a building, but it is often built in bushes, overhanging boughs or the litter which accumulates in branches washed by floods. Five to eight white or slightly speckled eggEgg (biology) In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum.... s are laid in April, and second broods are reared. The eggs of the St. Kilda Wren are marginally larger and often more boldly spotted; six is the usual number. In popular culture In The Jungle BookThe Jungle Book *The Jungle Book* is a collection of stories written by Rudyard Kipling.... by Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a British author and poet best known today for his children's books: The Jungle Book , The... , Limmershin, the Winter Wren, is the narrator of the "The White SealSeal Seal or SEAL may refer to articles connected to a variety of meanings of the word:... " story . The GermanGerman language German is a West Germanic language.... saying "jemand freut sich wie ein Zaunkönig" means "be joyful" . External links (for 19 issues) with Circum-Polar Range-Map on the Internet Bird Collection