Cactus Wren - Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus - NatureWorks
New Hampshire PBS NATUREWORKS!
Home     About     Watch     Nature Files     Teachers     Contact

Cactus Wren - Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus

Cactus Wren
Characteristics
Range
Habitat
Diet
Life Cycle
Behavior

 Classification

 Phylum: Chordata
 Class: Aves
 Order: Passeriformes 
 Family: Troglodytidae 
 Genus: Campylorhynchus

Cactus Wren
ICUN Redlist - World Status: Least Concern Least Concern
    Audio Credit: xeno-canto.org Andrew Spencer cc logo
  Characteristics
Cactus WrenThe cactus wren is about eight inches (21 cm) long. It has a white belly with brown spots, and speckled brown, black and white feathers on its back, wings and head. It has black feathers on its throat and a long stripe of white feathers that looks like eyebrows. It has long legs and a long pointed bill.

  Range

cactus wrenThe cactus wren is found in southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, western Texas, and northern Mexico.

 

 

 

  Habitat
Cactus WrenThe cactus wren lives in desert thickets and areas with large cactus like the cholla. It needs areas with cactus or thorny plants or bushes strong enough to hold its large nests.
  Diet
Cactus WrenThe cactus wren forages for food on the ground. It uses its long bill to turn over things on the ground. It eats ants, beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, fruits and seeds. Sometimes it will eat small frogs and lizards. It is adapted for life in the desert and gets most of the water it needs to survive from the food it eats.

  Life Cycle

Cactus wrens mate from late February to March. Cactus wrens can have as many as three broods every season.

Cactus WrenFemales find a nesting place in a large cactus or thick shrub, tree or thicket. Males help build the nests. The nest is made with grass and straw and lined with feathers. The nest is large and shaped like a football. It has a side entrance that helps protect the fledglings from predators.

The female lays between three to six eggs. The eggs take a little more than two weeks to hatch. The young wrens leave the nest after about three weeks, but they depend on their parents for food for another month.

  Behavior
Cactus wrens build two nests - one for their young and one for roosting.





 


 


Support for NatureWorks Redesign is provided by: