Canyon Wren, Catherpes mexicanus

Canyon Wren, Catherpes mexicanus conspersus. Photograph taken within the Reserva Monte Mojino, Alamos, Sonora, April 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

The Canyon Wren, Catherpes mexicanus conspersus, is one of three subspecies of Canyon Wren, with all three being found in Mexico. They are a member of the Troglodytidae Family of Wrens which has eighty-six members placed in nineteen genera and is the only global species in the Catherpes Genus. They are known in Mexico as chivirín barranqueño and saltapared risquera.

The Canyon Wren is small in stature. The sexes are similar. Their head and back are grayish, their underparts are rusty brown with varying amounts of white spotting dorsally. Their lower face, throat, and upper breast is white. Their belly is a chestnut color with varying amounts of black and white speckling. They have a bright rusty rufous tail barred with black. Their head is flattened, and their bills are long, slender, and decurved with a dull white mandible that transitions to gray terminally; their gape is yellow; their iris is brown, and their legs and feet are black to dark brown.

The Canyon Wren is normally non-migratory with some populations known to make seasonal vertical movements to higher elevations. They are found within arid, steep-sided canyons, rocky habitats on rocky cliffs or outcrops. They rely on shading from the canyon walls and rocks and access to water during breeding season. They are visually inconspicuous and normally located by their song during breeding season. They are primarily insectivorous consuming spiders and insects with their diets being supplemented on a limited basis by terrestrial invertebrates including ants, beetles, leafhoppers, and termites. They build nests in sheltered rock crevices where the females incubate the eggs and both sexes feed the young. Their nests are preyed upon by corvids, falcons, hawks, snakes, and squirrels.

The Canyon Wren is one of the least studied species in North American, which is attributed to their remote habitat, and very limited information about their behavioral patterns and biology has been documented.

The Canyon Wren is easily confused with the Rock Wren, Salpinctes obsoletus (paler, grayish brown back, dull white throat and finely streaked breast transitioning to a cinnamon to buff belly, flanks, and undertail coverts), which is found in similar locations.

The Canyon Wren is found throughout Mexico south to Oaxaca and southwest Chiapas with the exception that they are absent from the coastal regions along the central and southern Pacific and from the entire coast regions adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico at elevations up to 3,000 m (9,900 feet). The conspersus subspecies is found in northwest Mexico including Baja California, Baja California Sur, and Sonora.

From a conservation perspective the Canyon Wren is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely distributed populations. They are not found in close proximity to humans and in general have not been adversely affected by human developments.