Newsletter / Blog
2011-11-25 Arizona State Bird - Cactus Wren - Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
The Cactus
Wren - Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus - is a species of wren that
is native to the southwestern US and central Mexico. It is a bird of arid
regions and almost all water is obtained from the food it eats. Cactus wrens can live to be 7-10 years old.
Description
The adult has
brown or gray-brown upperparts overall, with dark barring on wings and tail and
white streaks on back. In flight, white tips and barred white outer edge to
tail. Crown is rufous brown, with a striking white supercilium. Face is streaked
gray brown and underparts are whitish overall, but heavily spotted on the
throat and breast. Belly and flanks are flushed orange-buff in interior birds,
but white and more heavily spotted in birds from coastal California. It has a slightly curved bill
and there is little sexual dimorphism.
Call
It has the loud
voice characteristic of wrens. They sing territorial songs and the males
vigorously defend their territory . The song consist of a one-pitched monotone
of chuh,chuh, chuh, chuh, gaining speed towards the end.
Food
The Cactus Wren
primarily eats insects, occasionally it will eat seeds, fruits and small frogs
and reptiles.
Breeding
They build nests in the protection of
thorny desert plants like the arms of the giant saguaro cactus and they build
many nests, only living in one. The other nests are decoys. Cactus wrens can
have as many as three broods every season. Females find a nesting place in a
large cactus or thick shrub, tree or thicket. Males help build the nests. The female lays between three to six eggs. The
eggs take a little more than two weeks to hatch. The young wrens leave the nest
after about three weeks, but they depend on their parents for food for another
month.
Conservation Status – Least Concern
Birdwatching
See these
striking birds in Tucson, Arizona
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