Rock Wren
Salpinctes obsoletus
Photo taken at North Mountain, Phoenix, Maricopa Co., Arizona. March 2005.
Rock Wrens are among the most commonly encountered birds in
the Sonoran Desert. As their name implies they are most at home on rocky slopes
and around small mountains. Food consists primarily of insects and spiders that
they extract from nooks and crevices with their longish beak. Rock Wrens are
year-round residents in the Sonoran Desert but some individuals migrate as far
north as Southwestern Canada during the summer.
There is a pale eye-stripe and ever-so-faint streaking on the breast; otherwise
this 15 cm long bird is drabbish brown-gray, matching closely the color of its
habitat. Rock Wrens often call a loud trill from the top of a prominent boulder
or even the very summit of a mountain thus announcing their territory. Some
places where these birds can be seen very easily include
North Mountain and
Camelback Mountain in Phoenix and
Usery Mountain Park in Mesa, Arizona