Eurasian Wren

• comunicaciónFor all its tiny size, it has one of the loudest songs relative to body weight of any European bird.
• It is polygamous: the male may mate with several females, which is why clutch size varies so much from one nest to another.
• It is the only representative of its family in the Old World; the other wrens, as many as 93 species, are American.
• Despite its tiny size it has an extremely powerful song, out of all proportion for a bird of ten grams.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Woodland and scrub with dense undergrowth, often near watercourses. It nests in holes in trees, rocks and even buildings, although it also weaves spherical nests among the scrub. Its migrations are short: from the high mountains down to lower ground, or from northern Europe to the Mediterranean, usually without crossing the sea

Birth weight

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Size at birth

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Sexual maturity

12 months

Gestation / incubation

The young leave the nest at 14 days, with the female incubating alone

Litter / clutch size

3-9 pale eggs with fine orange-ochre speckling, between April and July. The number varies according to whether the male has paired with one or several females. The nest is spherical, with a small opening, made of grass and moss

Sources consulted: SEO/BirdLife (ficha chochín paleártico y III Atlas); Asturnatura; Sierra de Baza (ficha técnica); Wikipedia (Troglodytes troglodytes); Barker (filogenia molecular); Albrecht et al. 2020, PLOS ONE (filogenia de poblaciones ibero-magrebíes); Linnaeus 1758; Billberg 1828

Best time: All year round; it is resident, though in winter birds arrive from northern Europe