When I was a kid in Ohio one of the best little songsters around was the wren. My mother loved wrens and tried to mimic their whistle. She encouraged me when I built birdhouses to make sure the hole was small enough so those pesky English sparrows couldn t get in.
Most wrens are rather small.
It has the distinction of being the biggest member of the wren family, larger than an English sparrow and a little more streamlined. It has a medium-long and narrow beak suitable for dining on insects, berries and seeds. Unlike the eastern wrens with their tails in the air, the western Cactus Wren holds his tail down. It s not particularly pretty either no bright, showy hues just basically brown and buff with white streaks and spots above and darker spots below. The crown is dark, with eyebrows long and white.