Bewick's Wren
(Thryomanes bewickii)

Overview

Summary

© Tony Battiste
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The Canadian population of the Bewick's Wren is largely confined to the south coast of British Columbia. It formerly bred in southern Ontario but that small population had disappeared by the 1970s (Godfrey 1986, Brewer 2007) when the Bewick's Wren population throughout eastern North America underwent a significant decline (Kennedy and White 2013). The species is well surveyed by the Breeding Bird Survey, data from which show a large decrease in the Canadian population since 1973.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

The cause of the population decline of the Bewick's Wren in British Columbia is unknown (Campbell et al. 1997). Drastic declines throughout eastern North America have been attributed to several causes, but linked primarily with competition from House Wrens (Kennedy and White 2013).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Brewer, D. 2007. Bewick's Wren. pp. 632 in: Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, 2001-2005. Cadman, M.D., D.A. Sutherland, G.G. Beck, D. Lepage and A.R. Couturier, Eds. Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto, Ontario.
• British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas. 2011. First British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas, 2007-2011 (preliminary results). British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas. 2011. First British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas, 2007-2011 (preliminary results). (Link)
• Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall, and G.E. J. Smith. 1997. The Birds of British Columbia. Volume 3: Passerines, Flycatchers Through Vireos. UBC Press, Vancouver, BC.
• Godfrey, W. E. 1986. The birds of Canada, revised edition. National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa. 595 pp.
• Kennedy, E.D. and D.W. White. 2013. Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Kennedy, E.D. and D.W. White. 2013. Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)