The Wren Formerly Known as the Short-billed Marsh Wren

The Sedge Wren, whose name was changed to differentiate it from the Marsh Wren, is a tiny, rambunctious, energetic bird. Their call sounds like an insect, which is hard to identify unless familiar with their song. This cute wren, (as if any wren species were not cute), is one bird we believe does not get enough publicity.

In our midwest birding travels, we have come across the Sedge Wren in various prairie habitats. They like not-too-wet praires, bog habitats, and marshy areas. Though secretive, they can be found in many different places across North America and beyond.

Many unconnected Sedge Wren populations occur throughout the Americas, from Canada to Terra del Fuego.

The Sedge Wren is one of the most nomadic territorial birds in North America. On a given area, it may be present in numbers in one year, and be completely absent the next. –Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Two great places in our area to find them is at Horicon Marsh’s Bud Cook Trail located in Horicon, Wisconsin, and Deer Run Forest Preserve in Rockford, Illinois.

Chivirín sabanero is their name in Spanish, mentioned just because we think it sounds cool.

Sedge habitats are one of the most hard to define yet important areas to study, along with prairies and savannas. Much more conservation work is needed to save some of these precarious areas.