BIRD CALLS and SONGS: Wren calls

The Carolina Wren is a very vocal bird, with a number of different calls (12 listed in BNA).

This is its scolding call, with Gray Catbird calling (July, NJ)

Dit calls and faster scolding (June, PA)

Scolding by a pair of Carolina Wrens (Feb, PA).

Jeer call and dit note (June, NJ)

jeer, a male-only, learned call

dit, a female and juv male-only call (BNA)

Dit calls (June, NJ). These can sound a little like a Winter Wren, but the notes of the doublets are usually closer together, and are clearer, more ringing.

Rattle (Nov, NJ)

Faster rattle, which can sound very similar to the House Wren (Oct, NJ)

Lower churr-like alarm (Sep, NJ).

Squeaky chirp-like calls.
(Oct, PA)

(Nov, NJ)

Adult pair with similar squeaky calls near fledglings (June, PA)

Same pair but different squeaky calls by adult Carolina Wren near fledglings (June, PA)

Squeaky and scolding calls by family of Carolina Wrens (May, NJ)

Female Carolina Wrens have a chatter that often overlaps the singing male; it sounds like a call but may represent a song, as many related species in the tropics duet. Each chatter is preceded by another female-only call, nyerk.

nyerk and first few notes of chatter

time scale reduced

(Feb, NC)

Scolding calls of House Wren, a family of birds (July, NJ)

scolding call (Aug, PA)

scolding (June, PA).

Slower scolding by a House Wren (July, PA).

A doubled scold (Apr, PA)

Slow versions can sound similar to the common call of Marsh Wren (Oct, PA).

Scolding calls of House Wren (in this case more rapid) and Carolina Wren together for comparison (June, PA).

time scale reduced

"Hard" alarm calls near nest (June, NJ)

Faster alarm calls/rattle (July, NJ)

Another fast version (Apr, PA).

Mew-like alarm calls:
"skeer"(Apr, PA)

Another example of this alarm, which could be mistaken for a catbird (male, Apr, PA).

(Apr, PA)

The Winter Wren call is most often doubled or tripled, but otherwise sounds similar to the chimp call of the Song Sparrow (Feb, NJ)

This bird called only once each time(Oct, PA)

This individual, perhaps more agitated, called more rapidly at times (Dec, PA)

Song Sparrow chimp call for comparison (Aug, NJ)

This migrant Winter Wren uttered a staccato alarm call or rattle, a less commonly heard vocalization that I have heard usually at dawn (Mar, PA).

The following is a rarely heard alarm call, apparently given in high stress conditions, although I couldn't detect any obvious threats to the bird at the time (Dec, PA).

Two birds calling at daybreak (Nov, PA)

Similar call in response to a cat (Oct, PA).

(Dec,PA)

This call is very similar to common calls given by Winter Wrens in England (now Eurasian Wren, Dec, Herts).

Another version of the alarm call, heard in the background of another wren. This is a recording two Winter Wrens in England in April. The two have now been split into separate species.

Marsh Wren, three different scolding calls (May, NJ).
The first call is the one I hear from migrants in the fall.

A quiet rattle by a singing migrant (Oct, PA).

Each wren species has its own distinctive calls, but other calls are very similar to each other. For example, this call by a migrant Marsh Wren is similar to some House Wren calls (Sep, PA).