When I was in my pre-teens, a brother of mine assembled a bird-house for House Wrens. I had not seen or even heard of the House Wren (or any other wren) and figured it was a total waste of time. That year, I learned that wrens did indeed visit and live on our Iowa farm. I also found out that they are great at hiding but can sing loudly.
Since moving to Colorado in June, I have seen three species of wrens. All are quite loud and are very good at hiding.
The first wren I discovered was the Bewick’s wren. I heard it from the front steps of my apartment on my first weekend here. Several weeks later, I saw an adult moving through the vegetation near my steps with fledglings in tow, feeding them.
My second wren was the Rock Wren. I wouldn’t call this bird secretive. It usually sings loudly from a conspicuous perch.
The third wren was the Canyon Wren and the one I was most looking forward to seeing again. It is heard more often than it is seen. It has a loud booming voice. They can cling to vertical rock walls.
By reading the habitat descriptions of the three wrens above, you should be able to get a feel for the type of landscape in and around the Colorado National Monument; dry, sparsely vegetated, rocky canyonlands.
Nice images as is your custom.
Don
Thanks Don. I hope you are doing well.
I’m sure you love Colorado, about 30 years ago, I and some friends and family started making an annual trip to Cortez to explore the Ansazi Indian ruins. We went annually for over 10 years and stopped when health problems and old age caught up with us. I really fell in love with Colorado, especially the Western area. A good friend of mine, Marvin Blackmore a Native American artist is the person who got us started. I haven’t seen Marvin for several years, the last I talked to him he lived North of Cortez near Deloris and had a gallery in Telluride. You can Google “Marvin Blackmore Pottery” and read about him, he does high end art. He is a very personable, likeable fellow, if you have a chance to run in to him or go to any of the art shows he is at, tell him Hi from me…
Will do.
Thanks Stan; We are having a great time I Keystone this week with family. Hope you are enjoying yourself also. Has brother Tom pu cameras out yet?
God Bless;
Jim Tierney
Have fun in Keystone. Also, it will not to Tom putting out cameras, but my brother Bill will be doing so.
I remember the wren house and where it hang. Bob made it didn’t he. 🙂
I think that Tim made it but will have to verify.
I love listening to the wrens! We have a lot of them, & a wren house. Do the different wrens sound similar or are they all pretty different? Great pictures. Hope all is well there.
DianeGubbels
Diane, it is great to hear from you. The wrens sound completely different. They are quite unique. All is well out here, except the heat. I understand it is hot back there too.