Bird Guide

Musician Wren vs Song Wren

Musician Wren (Cyphorhinus arada)

Musician Wren

Cyphorhinus arada

Small21 gForest

The musician wren is 12.5 cm (4.9 in) long and weighs 18 to 24 g (0.63 to 0.85 oz). The adult of the nominate subspecies has a rufous forehead and forecrown that darkens to chesnut brown to the rear. It has a narrow pale buff supercilium with narrower black borders, a chestnut brown stripe behind the eye, and orange-brown cheeks. It has a broad "collar" streaked black and white lengthwise on its nape and upper back. The lower back and rump are a colder reddish brown than the crown and the tail is medium brown with narrow darker brown bars. Voice: Members of a musician wren pair sing antiphonally, "a series of clear, haunting whistles, varying greatly in pitch". The call is "a harsh 'churk'".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Musician Wren
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Morona-Santiago: e-slope Cord. de Cutucú: Uuntsuants, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: William Swainson · Public domain
Song Wren (Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus)

Song Wren

Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus

Small25 gForest

The song wren is 11.5 to 12.5 cm (4.5 to 4.9 in) long and weighs 25 to 26 g (0.88 to 0.92 oz). Its body is nearly uniformly brown, though sometimes paler on the breast. It has a chestnut throat and black bars on the wings and its very short tail. It has a patch of bare blue skin around the eye. The subspecies have some variations in color and intensity, and extensive descriptive details can be found in Pollock and Agin (2020). Voice: The song wren's song has been described as "clear, melodious whistles superimposed on harsh, henlike clucking". Both sexes sing year round to defend a territory. Variations in song between the sexes and in different parts of the range have been noted but not systematically studied.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Song Wren
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Esmeraldas: Canandé ridge trail, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Juan Zamora · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Musician Wren and Song Wren.