Boucard's wren (''Campylorhynchus jocosus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family Troglodytidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Boucard's wren has sometimes been considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the spotted wren (''Campylorhynchus gularis'') but molecular data show that they are not closely related. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

.Kroodsma, D. E. and D. Brewer (2020). Boucard's Wren (''Campylorhynchus jocosus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bouwre1.01 retrieved 31 May 2021

Description

Boucard's wren is long and weighs . The male has a chocolate crown, reddish nape, blackish shoulders with white streaks, a reddish-brown back with black and white spots, and a dull reddish rump. Its tail is gray-brown with dark brown bars and the outermost feathers have white tips. It has a dull white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

and blackish eyestripe; the rest of the face is dark gray. Its chin and throat are unmarked white and the underparts are white with black spots. Its flanks are buffy with darker bars. The female is similar but for smaller spots on the underparts. The markings on the juvenile's back are less well defined than the adult's, its throat is speckled, and its underparts are grayish with dull, diffuse, spots.

Distribution and habitat

Boucard's wren is found in south-central Mexico, in the states of

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

Morelos Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Mun ...

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

, and

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

. It inhabits dry to arid forest that sometimes has giant cacti; examples are pine–oak woodland, oak scrub, and subtropical scrub. It is very tolerant of habitat disturbance. In elevation it mostly ranges from but can be found as low as .

Behavior

Feeding

Boucard's wren forages from ground level to the tops of trees and cacti but seldom on the ground itself. Its diet includes both animal and vegetable matter such as insects and cactus seeds.

Breeding

Boucard's wren was observed building a nest in April, and nests with eggs were found in Oaxaca between mid-June and early July. The nests are domes with a side entrance. The clutch sizes were three to four.

Vocalization

The Boucard's wren song is "a series of grating notes

It also produces "a harsh rapid chatter

The sexes sing in unison.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed Boucard's wren as being of Least Concern. Its population is estimated to be at least 20,000 individuals and is believed to be stable.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1586939 Boucard's wren Birds of Mexico Endemic birds of Mexico Boucard's wren Boucard's wren Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Birds of the Sierra Madre del Sur Tehuacán Valley matorral