Bewick's Wren

Bewick's Wren

Thryomanes bewickii

Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~40% · Likely
at San Francisco

In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%

46,257 Verified sightings at San Francisco
8,078 In all 16 parks From 2019 to 2026
May Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Bewick's Wren

Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii) is a wren native to North America. It is the only species placed in the genus Thryomanes. At about 14 cm (5.5 in) long, it is grey-brown above, white below, with a long white eyebrow. While similar in appearance to the Carolina wren, it has a long tail that is tipped in white. The song is loud and melodious, much like the song of other wrens. It lives in thickets, brush piles and hedgerows, open woodlands and scrubby areas, often near streams. It eats insects and spiders, which it gleans from vegetation or finds on the ground.

Its historic range was from southern British Columbia, Nebraska, southern Ontario, and southwestern Pennsylvania, Maryland, south to Mexico, Arkansas and the northern Gulf States. However, it is now extremely rare east of the Mississippi River.

In 1827, the American ornithologist John James Audubon included an illustration of Bewick's wren under the binomial name Troglodytes bewickii in his The Birds of America. In the companion Ornithological Biography, published four years later, Audubon explained that he had shot the specimen near St. Francisville, Louisiana in 1821 and had chosen the specific epithet bewickii... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Song1:21

United States · 2026

© Ed Pandolfino · XC1139582 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call1:11

United States · 2025

© Matthew L. Brady · XC980106 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Alarm call0:39

Mexico · 2022

© Manuel Grosselet · XC756939 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Guadalupe Mountains National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~50%
2 Channel Islands National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~40%
3 Death Valley National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~30%
4 Big Bend National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~30%
5 Joshua Tree National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~30%
6 Zion National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~20%
7 Saguaro National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~10%
8 Grand Canyon National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~10%
9 Cumbres de Monterrey National Park 🇲🇽 Mexico
~10%
10 Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca 🇲🇽 Mexico
~10%
11 Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks 🇺🇸 United States
~10%
12 Yosemite National Park 🇺🇸 United States
<5%
13 Olympic National Park 🇺🇸 United States
<5%
14 El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve 🇲🇽 Mexico
<5%
15 Great Bear Rainforest 🇨🇦 Canada
<5%
16 Redwood National Park 🇺🇸 United States
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Puebla 🇲🇽 México
~80%
2 Mexico City 🇲🇽 México
~80%
3 Toluca 🇲🇽 México
~70%
4 Seattle 🇺🇸 United States
~60%
5 León 🇲🇽 México
~50%
6 Sacramento 🇺🇸 United States
~50%
7 Guadalajara 🇲🇽 México
~40%
8 Portland 🇺🇸 United States
~40%
9 San Francisco 🇺🇸 United States
~40%
10 San Diego 🇺🇸 United States
~30%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Bewick's Wren in San Francisco?

Likely

About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Bewick's Wren sighting in San Francisco on a given day, based on 46,257 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 375 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Bewick's Wren in San Francisco?

April–May and September

In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Bewick's Wren in San Francisco on a given day, against about 30% in November and December, the lowest months. Those are among San Francisco's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 110 mm in December.

What time of day is best to see a Bewick's Wren?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bewick's Wren sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is San Francisco the best place to see a Bewick's Wren?

9th of 21

Of the 21 cities where we can rate Bewick's Wren sightings, San Francisco ranks 9th at about 40%. The best odds are in Puebla (México, about 80%), Mexico City (México, about 80%) and Toluca (México, about 70%).

Which relatives of the Bewick's Wren live in San Francisco?

Same family: Troglodytidae

The closest relatives of the Bewick's Wren that you can see in San Francisco (family Troglodytidae, Wrens) are Marsh Wren (about 10%) and Pacific Wren (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Bewick's Wren sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Bewick's Wren is recorded against all the birds logged in San Francisco (46,257 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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