Editing Marsh wren

{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Marsh wren
| image = Cistothorus palustris -Reifel Island, Vancouver-8.jpg
| image_caption = In Canada
|image2= Cistothorus palustris - Marsh Wren - XC105805.ogg 
|image2_caption=Singing in ''[[Typha]]'' marsh in Minnesota 
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Cistothorus palustris'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T22711374A94291392 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22711374A94291392.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Cistothorus
| species = palustris
| authority = ([[Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)|Wilson, A]], 1810)
| synonyms =
''Telmatodytes palustris''
| range_map = Cistothorus palustris map.svg
| range_map_caption = Distribution map
{{Leftlegend|#FF7F2A|Breeding}}
{{Leftlegend|#FFdd55|Migration}}
{{Leftlegend|#7137C8|Resident}}
{{Leftlegend|#5F8DD3|Non-breeding}}
}}
[[File:Marsh wren at Hammonasset Beach (12908).jpg|thumb|Singing in a marsh at [[Hammonasset Beach]], Connecticut]]
The '''marsh wren''' ('''''Cistothorus palustris''''') is a small [[North America]]n [[songbird]] of the [[wren]] [[Family (biology)|family]]. It was formerly called the '''long-billed marsh wren''' to distinguish it from the [[sedge wren]], then known as the short-billed marsh wren.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Find a Bird: Marsh Wren |url=https://www.massaudubon.org/our-work/birds-wildlife/bird-conservation-research/breeding-bird-atlases/find-a-bird?id=4496 |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=Mass Audubon |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Taxonomy==
The marsh wren was [[Species description|described]] by the Scottish-American ornithologist [[Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)|Alexander Wilson]] in 1810 and given the [[binomial name]] ''Certhia palustris''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Wilson | first=Alexander | author-link= Alexander Wilson (ornithologist) | year=1810 | title= American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States | volume=2 | place=Philadelphia | publisher=Bradford and Inskeep | pages=58–60 , Plate 12 fig. 4 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46337236 }}</ref> The current [[genus]] ''[[Cistothorus]]'' was introduced by the German ornithologist [[Jean Cabanis]] in 1850.<ref>{{ cite book | last= Cabanis | first=Jean | author-link=Jean Cabanis | year=1850 | title= Museum Heineanum : Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine, auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt | volume=1 | language=de | place=Halberstadt | publisher=In Commission bei R. Frantz | page=77 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49584456 }}</ref> There are 15 recognised [[subspecies]].<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2017 | title=Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, hyliotas, wrens & gnatcatchers | work=World Bird List Version 7.3 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sugarbirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=29 December 2017 }}</ref>

Etymology: from Greek 'κιστος' (''cistos'', "a shrub") and 'θουρος' (''thouros'', "leaping, or running through") and Latin 'palustris' ("marshy").<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGillivray, Semenchuck |first1=William Bruce, Glen Peter |title=The Federation of Alberta Naturalists Field Guide to Alberta Birds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1u9JDa7eKmoC&q=cistothorus+etymology&pg=PA222 |year=1998 |publisher=Federation of Alberta Naturalists |isbn=9780969613428 |access-date=22 October 2019}}</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Cistothorus palustris CT.jpg|thumb|left|[[Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area]], Quebec, Canada]]

Adults have brown upperparts with a light brown belly and flanks and a white throat and breast. The back is black with white stripes. They have a dark cap with a white line over the eyes and a short thin bill.

The male's song is a loud gurgle used to declare ownership of territory; western males have a more varied repertoire.

This little bird is native to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Their breeding habitat is [[marsh]]es with tall vegetation such as [[cattail]]s across [[North America]]. In the western United States, some birds are permanent residents. Other birds [[Bird migration|migrate]] to marshes and salt marshes in the southern United States and [[Mexico]]. Their non-breeding range is in the southern United States going into Mexico and their breeding range is in the northeastern United States going into Canada.<ref>Cornell All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Marsh_Wren/lifehistory</ref>

'''Measurements''':<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marsh Wren Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Marsh_Wren/id|access-date=2020-09-28|website=www.allaboutbirds.org|language=en}}</ref>

* '''Length''': {{convert|3.9|-|5.5|in|cm|abbr=on}}
* '''Weight''': {{convert|0.3|-|0.5|oz|g|abbr=on}}
* '''Wingspan''': {{convert|5.9|in|cm}}

== Foraging and diet ==
These birds forage actively in vegetation close to the water, occasionally flying up to catch [[insect]]s in flight. They mainly eat insects, also [[spider]]s and [[snail]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marsh Wren |url=https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/marsh-wren |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=Audubon |language=en}}</ref> In California, 53 Western Marsh Wren stomachs were examined which showed that the birds consume bugs (29%), caterpillars and chrysalids (17%), beetles (16%), ants and wasps (8%), spiders (5%), carabids and coccinellids (2%), with various other flies, grasshoppers, dragonflies and unidentifiable insect remains making up over 11 percent. Ants and wasps were observed to be mostly eaten in the fall.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Marsh_Wren/lifehistory|title=Marsh Wren|website=All About Birds|access-date=17 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Beal|first=F. E. L|title=Birds of California in relation to the fruit industry|publisher=Washington Government Printing Office|year=1907|volume=Part 1|pages=62}}</ref>

== Nesting ==
The [[Bird nest|nest]] is an oval structure attached to marsh vegetation, entered from the side. The male builds many unused nests in his territory. A hypothesis of the possible reason to why males build multiple "dummy" nests in their territory is that they are courting areas and that the females construct the "breeding nest" in which she lays her eggs.<ref>Metz, Karen J. “The Enigma of Multiple Nest Building by Male Marsh Wrens.” Jan. 1991, pp. 170–173.</ref> He may puncture the eggs and fatally peck the nestlings of other birds nesting nearby, including his own species (even his own offspring) and [[red-winged blackbird]]s, [[yellow-headed blackbird]]s, and [[least bittern]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/308|title=Marsh Wren (''Cistothorus palustris'')|last1=Kroodsma|first1=Donald E.|last2=Verner|first2=Jared|year=1997|editor=A. Poole|work=The Birds of North America Online|publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology|access-date=2013-03-03}}</ref> The [[Clutch (eggs)|clutch]] is normally four to six [[Bird egg|egg]]s, though the number can range from three to 10.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Marsh_Wren_dtl.html |title=All About Birds: Marsh Wren |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |access-date=2008-07-20}}</ref> The eggs are usually 0.6-0.7 inches in length and 0.4-0.6 inches in width.<ref name=":0" /> Incubation is performed only by females, and only females develop a brood patch.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Verner|first=Jared|title=Breeding Biology of the Long-billed Marsh Wren|year=1964|pages=19}}</ref> Marsh wren young can get infected by pathogenic larvae.<ref name="jwildlifedis.org">Warren, Yvonne. "Protocalliphora Braueri (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Induced Pathogenesis in a Brood of Marsh Wren (''Cistothorus Palustris'') Young". ''Journal of Wildlife Diseases'', 17 Mar. 1993, {{doi|10.7589|0090-3558-30.1.107}}.</ref> The Blowfly larvae infect the young by subdermal myiasis-induced lesions and subsequent sepsis.<ref name="jwildlifedis.org"/> The larvae form a wound in the young by rasping and expanding a hole in their skin to create blood flow and feed on the blood of the hosts' body.<ref name="jwildlifedis.org"/>

== Conservation ==
The species is still common with an estimated global breeding population of 9.4&nbsp;million.<ref name=":0" /> However, its numbers have declined with the loss of suitable wetland habitat and wholesale draining of marshes will lead to [[local extinction]]. Still, the [[species]] is widespread enough not to qualify as threatened according to the [[IUCN]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:MarshWrenTuleLake.jpg|Marsh wren at Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, California
File:Cistothorus palustris Iona.jpg|In Iona, British Columbia, Canada
File:100 Marsh Wren cropped.jpg|Nest, illustration
File:Museum of Science, Boston, MA - IMG 3236.JPG|Eggs
</gallery>

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== General sources ===
* Henninger, W. F. (1906): "A preliminary list of the birds of Seneca County, Ohio". ''[[Wilson Bulletin|Wilson Bull.]]'' '''18'''(2): 47–60. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110606161911/http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/DJVU/v018n02/P0047-P0060.djvu DjVu full text] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110606161920/http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v018n02/p0047-p0060.pdf PDF full text]
* Warren, Yvonne. "''Protocalliphora Braueri'' (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Induced Pathogenesis in a Brood of Marsh Wren (Cistothorus Palustris) Young". ''Journal of Wildlife Diseases'', 17 Mar. 1993. {{doi|10.7589|0090-3558-30.1.107}}.

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal | last1=Luttrell | first1=Sarah A. M. | last2=Lohr | first2=Bernard | year=2018 | title=Geographic variation in call structure, likelihood, and call-song associations across subspecies boundaries, migratory patterns, and habitat types in the Marsh Wren (''Cistothorus palustris'') | journal=The Auk | volume=135 | issue=1 | pages=127–151 | doi= 10.1642/AUK-17-110.1 | doi-access=free }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Cistothorus palustris|the marsh wren}}
{{Wikispecies|Cistothorus palustris}}
* [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i7250id.html Identification tips]—USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
* {{InternetBirdCollection|marsh-wren-cistothorus-palustris|Marsh wren}}
* {{VIREO|Marsh+Wren|Marsh wren}}
* {{IUCN_Map|22711374/137610926|Cistothorus palustris}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1379530}}

[[Category:Birds described in 1810|marsh wren]]
[[Category:Birds of North America]]
[[Category:Cistothorus|marsh wren]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)]]