Voice of the Wild

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. A new wild voice in just a moment, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

While it won’t shy away from a well-built birdhouse, this bird can be pretty creative with its nesting choices; More than once I’ve reached for a map at the head of a seldom used hiking trail and had one burst from the pamphlet box to scold me away from its eggs. When not busy startling hikers, the bird adds brightness to backyards, woods, and urban forests, but only with its jumbled, bubbly song, as Its plumage is a simple, dull brown.

This is the House Wren, Troglodytes aedon from the wren family Troglodytidae. Here’s the house wren again; listen for how the song seems to stumble over its own urgency before stabilizing into more musical notes.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for our bird sounds. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new bird call with Illinois Extension.