Medium wren with white-speckled gray upperparts, brown rump, white-over-black eye-lines, white throat and breast with fine gray streaks, and buff-yellow flanks and belly.
The long tail is buff-and-black barred,
and has a pale tip; undertail coverts are white with black bars.


ROCK WREN
Salpinctes obsoletus
PASSERIFORMES
Wrens (Troglodytidae)

Range and Habitat

Breeds from southern British Columbia to southern
Saskatchewan, southward to California and Texas,
and south to Central America.
Spends winters in southern U.S. and southward.
Frequents arid or semiarid areas with exposed rock;
also alpine habitats.

SOUND: "keree-keree-keree, chair, chair, chair, deedle, deedle, deedle, tur, tur, tur, keree", "tic-keer"

The male Rock Wren is a truly remarkable singer and can have a large song repertoire of 100 or more song types, many of which seem to be learned from neighbors.

It usually builds a walkway of small pebbles that leads to the nest cavity. The function of this pavement is unknown.
It is not known to drink water, but instead gets
all it needs from its food.

A group of wrens has many collective nouns, including a "chime", "flight", "flock", and "herd" of wrens.

The Rock Wren is a small songbird, measuring only 12 cm in length. As a member of the wren family, this bird breeds in dry and rocky habitats such as canyons located from Canada to Costa Rica. Nests are cup-shaped and built in a crevice among its preferred rocks. Northern populations will fly south to the central United States, southwest Canada, and South America in winter months. Southern populations are permanent residents.

Food is hunted on the ground, and includes insects and spiders.