Chez's post on his tame wren got me thinking (as well as getting me jealous!).
I've always thought I never had any wrens, but after reading his post, I had a look at the wren page on the RSPB site, and now I'm not sure. Maybe one or both of the birds in my garden that I thought were dunnocks are in fact wrens.
Can anyone give me some hints on telling the difference?
In a way, it would be a shame if they aren't dunnocks, because whenever I see them I like to sing "Dun-nock, Dun-nock" to the tune of the Pink Panther (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm really sad). On the other hand, it would be fun if they were wrens because I could add them to my computer list of birds I have seen in my garden (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm really sad). Either way, it looks like I am doomed to be a garden bird anorak...
BB
LOL Badgerbread, great post!
Do you get house sparrows? Dunnocks are the same size. Wrens are much smaller, and their tails are nearly always cocked up, whereas Dunnocks seem to wag, if you see what I mean! Perhaps you have a photo of your birds and someone on the forum will be able to identify it for you.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
You are not sad. I'm sure we've all done it. You only have to spend a short time on these forums to see that there are many derranged (lol) birdy people out there and we all get just as excited to think we have a new species.
Dunnocks are almost always on the ground and are quite grey underneath, They move about a bit like a Robin and are the same sort of shape. Sparrow is right they are similar in size to sparrows and Robins.
Wrens are quite tiny in comparision and flit about much quicker. Their tails are alomst upright and they are the same colour all over.
Here is a picture of a Dunnock.
Hope this helps. Regards Sarah
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramble67/
Hi Badgerbread, the Wren is one of the UK smallest birds length 3 1/2 to 4in. The Dunnock is 5 1/2in.
The best way to describe a Wren is a tiny mouse with wings!
The following links will give you a detailed description of both species.
http://www.ibercajalav.net/img/323_WrenTtroglodytes.pdf
http://www.ibercajalav.net/img/324_DunnockPmodularis.pdf
Hope this helps!
Regards Buzzard
Nature Is Amazing - Let Us Keep It That Way
Hi
I guess from your name that you like badgers? I have 3 that visit me every night for their supper, one of which is getting quite tame now. I don't know if this is the right website to say this but I am gutted at the proposed badger cull here in Wales this year. Sorry but I had to get it off my chest!! What do others think?
You have no control over what life & people throw at you - but you have full control over how you deal with it!
Hi Chez,
Yes, I am chief cook and bottle washer for two badgers, who eat their dinners off the step just outside my study door. One of them now knocks on the door if I am not quick enough with the food - though he has yet to fully understand that it's difficult for me to open the door if he is right outside with his nose pressed to it!
The badger cull in Wales is very distressing, and will no doubt be completely useless. It's cattle that give badgers Bovine TB, not the other way round. I'm not unsympathetic to farmers, but there's simply no evidence that killing badgers will solve the problem. If that's what we do to protected species, God help the unprotected ones.
HI
Yes it is so sad, nobody is listening to the experts who say it is a waste of time and money, I have written to all the MP's and AM's but all I got back were some very condesending replies.
www.welshwildlife.org-ProposedBadgerCull_en is a very good site and well worth a look.
I too have badgers who come to my back door each night, one of which is now quite tame and will let me sit with her(?) while she eats. The are beautiful animals I have heard that some of our local farmers who have had their cattle tested for TB and are found positive, keep it quiet and sell the animals on quickly. Nobody seems to be policing the farmers closely enough and the poor badgers get the blame. I read on the messageboards on Autumnwatch one lady farmer in Devon who had TB on her farm and it was traced to her barn cats. She too is opposed to the cull, but the Welsh MP's are stubbornly sticking to their guns.
There's a petition you can sign on this link
http://www.backoffbadgers.org.uk/wales/index_english.php
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Thanks, Squirrel, I have signed the petition, and I've also posted the link on the 'Wildlife Protection' forum here, in case people somehow miss the discussion of badgers under the heading of wrens and dunnocks!!
Thanks Squirrel, I have signed. I do curse the damage that the badgers do in our garden, but I certainly don't want them killed.
Dunnock is much more likely to be on the lawn or the path than a wren is. A wren is far more likely to be hopping about in the base of a hedge or bush. You often get a clear view of a dunnock for several seconds. You usually catch a few frustratingly brief glimpses of a wren. A wren lands and cocks its tail up, a dunnock doesn't. A dunnock is easily mistaken for an "unmarked sparrow", and a wren isn't. A dunnock looks like a female house sparrow, but with a plain greyish front, and without the eye makeup.