The House Wren is a familiar backyard bird whose trilling, musical song is a familiar and welcome sound of summer. They are relatively nondescript in appearance compared to other North American wrens, and the lack of distinctive field marks is a distinguishing feature. They are larger than Winter Wrens, and often lack the distinctive white eyebrow of Bewick's Wrens. Did you know that male House Wrens build multiple nests in order to attract females? You can read more about House Wrens and their interesting behavior in this new species profile.

Photo © William C. Webb

Distinguishing between pairs, or groups of similar-looking species often challenges beginning birders. One approach to learning how to reliably distinguish species is to consider their similarities as well as their differences, and then focus on a few distinguihsing field marks.

Telling apart Downy Woodpeckers from Hairy Woodpeckers represents a common identification challenge for beginning birders. Rarely are these two species seen close in proximity (except in the museum – see photo), and this makes identification more challenging. In addition, both have similar geographic ranges, and forage in similar habitats. You can read about some tips for distinguishing between "downies' and "hairies" in a recent article on this topic.