Pacific Wren Hide-and-Seek

Day 97: The Latin name Troglodytes troglodytes says a lot about the social life of enchanting Pacific (Winter) Wren. While this mouse-sized bird doesn't actually live in a cave, it forages under leaf litter and darts from view as effectively as if it had slipped down a mole hole. I think this must have been a young bird. It showed no fear of me and allowed me to get within inches of it or its hiding place. That didn't make photographing it easy, though! It was very active, skittering here and there, disappearing under cottonwood leaves and emerging again where I least expected it. I followed it along the edge of the trail for about twenty feet over the space of ten minutes, watching it snap up insects and spiders. We parted company when it went into deep shadow beneath a cedar. Several others were playing hide-and-seek in the bushes, a behaviour more typical of the species. Always a favourite of mine, Pacific Wren sings a cascading, lengthy song, a melody far larger than its diminutive size.