Carolina Wren
Thryothorus ludovicianus · Wrens
Carolina Wren, singing
Staten Island, 5 July 2026
A Carolina Wren singing in the scrub at Staten Island in July, a bird of thicket and tangle across the south-eastern states that has pushed north into New York within living memory and now sings here all year. It does not migrate, and a hard winter can wipe out the northern edge of the population.
Loud out of all proportion to its size: the rolling "teakettle-teakettle" carries well beyond what a bird this small seems like it should manage. The bold white eyebrow, warm rufous upperparts and cocked tail separate it easily from the smaller, greyer House Wren.
Carolina Wren, in full song
Prospect Park, 13 December 2025
A Carolina Wren in full song in Prospect Park in December, tail fanned and bill wide open. It is a wren of thicket and tangle across the south-eastern states that has pushed north into New York within living memory, and it does not migrate, so a hard winter is genuinely dangerous for it.
An outsized voice for a bird this small, loud enough that a single Carolina Wren is routinely mistaken for something much larger. A run of mild winters lets it push north; a bad one knocks the northern edge of the range back a hundred miles.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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