CORRUÍRA (AS KNOWN IN BRAZIL)

Troglodytes musculus

The Tropical Wren has a small and captivating appearance, with a cinnamon color and gentle behavior. It measures 3 to 5,1 inches in length and weighs 0,3 to 0,4 ounces. It is a great singer, and its trilling, cheerful, and melodious song is mostly heard in the early morning.

It’s a very small bird, fitting in the palm of a child's hand. It lives alone or in pairs, both the male and female sing in duets. It is found on the edges of forests, savannas, dry shrublands, wetlands, fields, and urban green areas. This species resembles a mouse due to its characteristic of hopping while moving on the ground.

It feeds on small insects such as beetles, leafhoppers, ants, caterpillars, small wasps, and tiny spiders. Sometimes it even eats young lizards. It captures its prey by inserting its beak into crevices and cavities, both in human structures and under plant bark. It builds its nest in all sorts of cavities, in the most unlikely and unusual places like public telephones, tractors, music boxes, electrical installations and so on.

It has a wide distribution throughout Brazil and can be seen from Canada to the southern part of Argentina.