Marsh Wren
About the Marsh Wren
The Marsh Wren is a small North American songbird that winters in Port Aransas. Adults have brown upperparts with a light brown belly and flanks and a white throat and breast. The back is black with white stripes. They have a dark cap with a white line over the eyes and a short, thin bill. The male’s song is a loud gurgle used to declare ownership of territory; western males have a more varied repertoire. Their breeding habitat is marshes with tall vegetation such as the cattails at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. These birds forage actively in vegetation, sometimes flying up to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects, but also spiders and snails.