Cactus Wren

1/160s at f8.0, ISO 2500, Canon EOS-1D X w/800mm, x1.4 converter


The cactus wren is the largest North American wren. Unlike the smaller wrens, the cactus wren is easily seen. It has the loud voice characteristic of wrens. The cactus wren is much less shy than most of the family. The cactus wren primarily eats insects, including ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and wasps. Occasionally, it will take seeds, fruits, small reptiles and frogs. Foraging begins late in the morning and is versatile; the cactus wren will search under leaves and ground litter and overturn objects in search of insects, as well as feeding in the foliage and branches of larger vegetation. It is a bird of arid regions, and is often found around yucca, mesquite or saguaro; it nests in cactus plants, sometimes in a hole in a saguaro, sometimes where its nest will be protected by the prickly cactus spines of a cholla cactus or leaves of a yucca. The cactus wren forms permanent pair bonds, and the pairs defend a territory where they live all through the year.
Lost Dutchman State Park. AZ
 
02/16/2016