BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
SEDGE WREN - JENNYWREN?
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
Most of you know of Jenny Wren, and if you are under the age of 40 you are probably thinking of the 2005 Paul McCartney song with that name. Paul is actually singing about the Dickens character from the book, "Our Mutual Friend." But there are other connections since I'm told the wren is Paul's favorite bird.

Sedge Wren

So Paul and I have that in common. I particularly enjoy wrens, although the only one I see frequently is the Carolina Wren. Paul's wren needs no further name in England since there is only one species there. In our country that bird is called the Winter Wren.

As I was growing up I was lucky enough to have a complete set of the Thornton W. Burgess books. In them, Jenny Wren is one of Peter Rabbit's companions. Peter's pal arrives with bubbling song in the springtime and is undoubtedly a House Wren. House Wrens are fixtures in most summer gardens across the eastern U.S. and Canada but, alas, not on Nantucket where we are still looking for our first nest.

So our wren this week is not 'Jenny.' It is a fascinating little creature called the Sedge Wren. It is tiny, just four inches from beak to tail, although its tail is puny. Only hummingbirds are smaller. When I started birding in the '50s, there were two 'marsh' wrens in the bird book, Long-billed and Shortbilled. Nowadays the Long-billed is simply the Marsh Wren and the Short-billed, the Sedge Wren. Habitat has always been the most useful way to tell them apart. The scientific name, Cistothorus platensis, was given by two German naturalists of the early 1800s, Jean Louis Cabanis, and Johann Friedrich Naumann, and means a creature that runs through the shrubbery from the Rio La Plata in Puerto Rico. Oh my - how would it ever get here?

Sedge Wrens nest in fresh water marshes across the north central part of our country, mainly west of New England. They construct intricate globular nests in the grass, just a few feet from the ground with an entrance skillfully concealed at the side. Normally seven eggs are laid and Mrs. Wren does most of the upbringing. The male's effort is expended building extra nests throughout the marsh to confuse predators.

This bird was unknown on Nantucket until 1970 when one was found in September. Now we think of them as winter residents when we can find them. They are extreme skulkers. When they fly they look like a bit of leaf litter blowing in the wind, quickly dropping back into the grass. Is it any wonder it took so long to find them? It's hard to imagine them having the spunk to fly here across Nantucket Sound, but then, it's too far to hop!

We have a single specimen in the Edith Andrews Bird Collection at Maria Mitchell and that tiny corpse has a tale to tell. In September, 1981, a local falconer was hunting with his Cooper's Hawk at Folger's Marsh. The raptor dramatically picked a tiny bird off the marsh grass just as Simon Perkins, now a Field Ornithologist for Massachusetts Audubon, was watching. Simon prevailed upon the falconer to call in the hawk and extricated the bird from the predator's talons. Now it resides in a specimen drawer with other wrens that suffered less spectacular demises. Call Maria Mitchell if you would like to see the tiny morsel that was almost dinner.

Sedge Wrens are listed as 'endangered' in Massachusetts. There are only two nesting records from the central part of the state. Nantucket is one of the only places to regularly find them and even so, a good look requires luck and patience. They prefer fresh water meadows but not too wet. If there are cattails, the marsh becomes Marsh Wren habitat. Sedge Wrens like the long grasses and sedges.

The key is to listen for their call notes: dry, sharp "chep" sounds. Then attempt to call "pishhhh" them out. Often just a tiny movement in the grass gives them away. They are streaked light brown with a tiny tail, often cocked over their back. They don't show the striking eye stripe of the Marsh Wren.

Birding Nantucket shows them as rare from mid- October until late January. They stay until the marshes fall into winter's icy grip. That still hasn't arrived this year so they may still be around. If you are walking a marsh near cattails watch for leaf litter blowing in the wind when there is no wind. Then listen for the call - and wonder about Paul

McCartney and Jenny Wren. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228-1693 for more information. To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1-781-259- 8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@comcast. net.