Eurasian Wren

Characteristics

One of Japan's smallest wild birds. The total length is only about 11 cm, and the body alone looks like the size of a golf ball. The whole body is dark brown, and the wings have dark brown stripes. The inside of the mouth is yellow. There is a light brown line above the eye.With its short tail held up and its body trembling, it sings with its mouth wide open.

Calls

The wren is unimaginably large for its small body and sings beautifully. It's difficult to put their chirping into words, but they sing freely with a high, complex voice called "churi churi chiri lilyi." Compared to gray wagtails living in a similar environment, their songs are long and sweet.

Wren(Misosazai) Name Origin

Its distinctive name comes from the word "sasai" which means small. The wren is a bird that has been popular all over the world for a long time, and in Japan it appears in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. It also appears in Grimm fairy tales and folklore in Europe. Although it is small, it seems to have been loved as a bird with a strong presence.

Ecology

They mainly inhabit mountain streams flowing through forests. Acts alone or in pairs, and eats insects while moving along streams. They are polygamous, and the male builds a pot-shaped nest with moss at the base of trees to attract females. They start singing around February and breed from spring to summer.

Habitat

I took a picture of a wren singing in Mitakezawa, Akiruno City, Tokyo. I heard a voice near the entrance of the mountain path, and when I climbed the path along the stream and looked for it, I found it on top of a fallen tree.

wren videos

The video of the Wren.