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Grey-barred Wren | Campylorhynchus megalopterus
Grijsbandwinterkoning | Matraca barrada
The Grey-barred Wren is a large, group-living wren of the conifer and pine-oak forests in the highlands of central Mexico. Its back is barred grey and black. It is endemic to Mexico.
Voice
Rasping, scratchy calls and a harsh, rattling song of repeated phrases, often given by several birds of the group at once.
Recording: Manuel Grosselet — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
18–19 cm. Crown dark with pale streaks, whitish supercilium and a dark eyestripe. Back, wings and tail black with greyish-white bars. Underparts whitish with black spots on throat and breast; flanks and lower belly dull ochre with dark bars. Bill fairly long and slightly decurved.
Confusion species
Band-backed Wren Campylorhynchus zonatus occurs mainly farther south and east and has warmer brown-barred upperparts and a plain ochre belly. Spotted Wren Campylorhynchus gularis is smaller, with a streaked, not barred, back and a more rufous head.
Habitat
Humid pine-oak, pine and fir forest in the mountains, roughly between 2000 and 3500 m. Groups search for insects in the canopy and along branches, often among epiphytes and moss. Builds a domed nest in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Endemic to the highlands of central Mexico, mainly in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, from Jalisco and Michoacán east to Puebla and western Veracruz. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Groups give themselves away by their rasping calls; search tall conifer and pine-oak forest in the mountains around the Valley of Mexico.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Locally fairly common, but dependent on montane forest that is being logged in parts of its range.
Scientific name
Campylorhynchus megalopterus | de Lafresnaye, 1845
De Lafresnaye described the species in 1845 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Campylorhynchus was introduced in 1824 by Spix. Campylorhynchus is Greek, from kampulos 'curved' and rhunkhos 'bill', after the slightly decurved bill. megalopterus is Greek, from megas 'large' and pteron 'wing': 'large-winged'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Mexico (not further specified).