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Wildlife Spotlight: Cactus Wren

2/4/2021

 
PictureCactus Wren
The Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks consist of diverse habitats including coastal sage scrub, chaparral, grassland, oak woodland and riparian forest communities, making these wildlands the perfect home for many different species of rare plants and animals.
 
Native to Southern California and desert-like areas, the cactus wren is a threatened species known for its speckled brown plumage and white “eyebrows” that extend from the bill across their eyes, down to the sides of the neck. Similar in size to a spotted towhee, the cactus wren is the largest wren found in the United States. 

​The small, yet active bird can be seen jumping and hopping through coastal sage scrub habitats, where they often perch on cacti and other native shrubs, making their presence known. Unlike other wrens who cock their tails over their back, the cactus wren flash their white tail tips by fanning their tail feathers.
 
When it comes to their home, cactus wren are picky. They prefer to construct their nests in areas with thorny shrubs, prickly pear cactus and cholla cactus - all of which provide protection from predators. Cactus wren can often be found foraging in pairs or groups on the ground and in low trees, looking for small insects, fruits and seeds.
 
Next time you are out on the Landmarks, keep an eye out for the energetic cactus wren! To learn more about native wildlife on the Landmarks, visit letsgooutside.org.
John Ganahl
2/5/2021 01:13:34 pm

A few years ago the IRC was making artificial nests for cactus wrens out of wood and barbed wire to simulate nesting atop cactus that was less abundant due to fires. Has this been successful?

Irvine Ranch Conservancy
2/8/2021 03:36:26 pm

Hello John. The artificial nests for the Cactus Wren saw limited success, but we learned a lot about their nesting habits on the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks because of the project. We continue to include plants, like the prickly pear cactus, that Cactus Wren use for nesting in our restoration projects to try and bolster their habitat. We also try to support fire prevention efforts to protect the habitat already existing on the land.

Dave Beller
2/5/2021 04:52:04 pm

Cactus wrens aren't threatened, but the Coastal cactus wren (which is not recognized as a distinct species or subspecies by most authorities) is a Species of Special Concern to the state of California and a Cleveland National Forest Sensitive species. There's some real fascinating comparisons to be made between the coastal cactus wren which is not genetically isolated from its inland relatives and the California gnatcatcher which is. Both came to the coastal region fairly recently, around 8000 years ago, but the California gnatcatcher stopped breeding with its close relative, the Blue-gray gnatcatcher, even where their ranges overlap. The cactus wren still has gene flow (rare because of geographic barriers) between inland and coastal populations, which is why it's not recognized as a distinct species or subspecies.

Mike Boeck
2/5/2021 07:06:15 pm

http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/species/scrub/cactus_wren.html


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