It has a white belly with brown spots, and speckled brown, black, and white feathers on its back, wings, and head. It has black feathers on its throat and a long stripe of white feathers that look like eyebrows. It has long legs and a long pointed beak. The cactus wren can be found in southern California, southern Nevada, Utah, western Texas, and northern Mexico.
Cactus wrens live in desert thickets and areas with large cactus like the cholla.
They need areas with cactus or thorny plants or bushes strong enough to hold their large nests. Cactus wrens forage for food on the ground. They use their long beaks to turn over things on the ground. They eat ants, beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, fruits, and seed. Sometimes they will eat small frogs and lizards.