Marsh Wren on a Reed

A marsh wren, a small brownish bird, holding its tail cocked upwards, on a reed bending over under the bird's weight, with another read and some foliage on the side of the photo, sky in the background

Jun 6th, 2011, by Alex Zorach

I frequently hear marsh wrens singing in their appropriate habitat, but rarely see them, and was excited at the opportunity to photograph this bird. I was not terribly close to this bird, and this photo is cropped, after using considerable zoom, but you can still see characteristics of this bird's plumage and posture.

Like most wrens, this bird has a tendency to hold its tail cocked upwards, which you can see in a very pronounced manner in this picture. This picture also shows the marsh wren's a bold white supercilium (stripe above the eye), which tends to be shorter than that of the Carolina wren, the only similarly-patterned wren in this area.

This photo was taken in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge near Philadelphia.