House wrens, like all wrens, are primarily insect eaters and favor the gypsy moth, which can injure backyard and forest trees. Carolina wrens are year-round residents in Maryland. This is the largest wren in the eastern United States and it is reddish brown in color, with a distinctive white streak over the eye and a buffy colored underside. Marsh and sedge wrens migrate through most of Maryland but are found year-round in marshes on the Eastern Shore. Marsh wrens prefer cattail marshes, or bulrushes and reeds of tidal creeks, coastal salt and brackish marshes as well as inland river valleys.
Sedge wrens prefer sedge and freshwater meadows where grasses and sedges grow with scattered shrubs.
Both wrens build nests that are well hidden, and sometimes nest in colonies with other wrens. Marsh wren females build their nests mostly by themselves, but the males still follow wren tradition and build a series of dummy nests before and after the female arrives. These two wrens are unlikely to nest in boxes. Winter wrens summer in cool forests and swamps in the Northeast U.S., including our own Garrett County. They migrate south in the fall, but can also be seen in Maryland during the winter.