Wrens | Troglodytidae

Winterkoningen | Chochines

Small to medium-sized, mostly brown birds with short, rounded wings, a tail often held cocked and a fine, slightly curved bill for picking insects out of crevices. All but one species of the family live in the Americas, and with 51 species in sixteen genera Mexico and Central America are among the richest areas. Size ranges from the small Southern House Wren to the large Campylorhynchus wrens, which live in family groups. Most species move unseen through the lowest layer of forest, scrub and marsh; others live on rocks and in canyons, such as Rock Wren and Canyon Wren, or, like the genus Hylorchilus, only on limestone outcrops in southern Mexico. The song is remarkably loud for the size of the bird; in many tropical species male and female sing duets so tightly interlocked that they sound like one bird, and the nightingale wrens (Microcerculus) give long series of slow, pure whistles. The nest is usually a domed ball with a side entrance or is placed in a cavity, and several species also build separate roosting nests.