{"id":54007,"date":"2018-09-08T05:46:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-08T11:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54007"},"modified":"2026-05-09T11:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T16:25:00","slug":"house-wrens-foraging-in-the-wasatch-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/08\/house-wrens-foraging-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern House Wrens Foraging in the Wasatch Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I wonder how birds get their common names, for instance I know Northern House Wrens are a common bird but in my experiences with these tiny dynamos I find them more often in forested areas so why not Forest Wren instead of Northern House Wren? Forests were here before there were houses or yards.<\/p>\n

Forest Wren has a nice, descriptive ring to it whereas Northern House Wren sounds rather pedestrian and doesn’t describe these small wrens well at all. Okay, enough rambling on about my thoughts on the common name of Northern House Wrens…<\/p>\n

\"InquisitiveInquisitive Northern House Wren on a brush pile – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I was delighted to find two Northern House Wrens foraging in a brush pile in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> not long after sunrise. This time of the year the wrens aren’t singing like they do in the spring so I have to rely more on my eyes and not on a combination of my eyes and ears to locate them.<\/p>\n

These wrens were moving in and out of view as they poked around the fallen branches and twigs looking for their breakfast. This one stopped foraging long enough to cock its head which appeared to be an inquisitive look in my direction though it most likely wasn’t inquisitive about me at all.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren foraging in a brush pile – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the wren poked around the peeling bark on the fallen branches, it was probably looking for insects, insect eggs or possibly spiders. If it were me leaning as far forward on a sloping branch as this wren did I would fall flat on my face.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren in the Wasatch Mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The second wren wasn’t too far away from the first and it perched out in the open long enough for me to take several photos of it too. The only way I could tell them apart was that this wren had a lighter colored throat than the first wren. When it perched near a crook in the fallen branch I had to photograph it and the lichen on the branch added a nice pop of color.<\/p>\n

\"BackBack view of a Northern House Wren on a brush pile – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I like how this back view of the Northern House Wren shows off all of the patterns in the tail, back and wings of this species. In both of these last two images signs of fall show in the changing colors of the wild rose leaves. Before much longer these Northern House Wrens will begin their migration so I am especially happy to have had great views of these wrens this late in the summer.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Northern House Wren photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning I was delighted to find two Northern House Wrens foraging in a brush pile in the Wasatch Mountains not long after sunrise. This time of the year the wrens aren’t singing like they do in the spring so I have to rely more on my eyes and not on a combination of my eyes and ears to locate them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,6742,4594,2586,26,773],"tags":[4004,5180,6577,6779,3940,4136,5370,908,6780,3291,4069,2587,2585,5802,3822],"class_list":["post-54007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-little-dutch-hollow","category-morgan-county","category-house-wrens","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-back-view","tag-branches","tag-brush-pile","tag-canyon","tag-foraging","tag-forest","tag-forests","tag-inquisitive","tag-lichen","tag-mountains","tag-house-wren","tag-troglodytes-aedon","tag-wren","tag-wrens"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-brush-pile-mia-mcpherson-3992.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-e35","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":73144,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/24\/molting-house-wren\/","url_meta":{"origin":54007,"position":0},"title":"Molting 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and other birds I know I need to find them which means focusing my attention on the sights and sounds around me whenever I am out in the field which has worked extremely well for me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern House Wren peeking out of its nest, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-1981.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-1981.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-1981.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"May 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I tried to get up into a canyon in the Stansbury Mountains yesterday but was met with a closed gate so I turned my Jeep around and decided that I would explore a different canyon.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern House Wren in a natural nesting cavity, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-natural-cavity-mia-mcpherson-6881.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-natural-cavity-mia-mcpherson-6881.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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