Energetic Marsh Wren steals the morning show

by Lowell Washburn

Iowa’s cattail marshlands represent one of our greatest natural treasures.  Marshlands aid in flood control, store surface water, and recharge underground aquifers.  Wetlands also provide homes for hundreds of wildlife species ranging from mink to mallards, and from egrets to dragonflies.  

In spite of the incredible diversity, it is the birdlife that always seems to steal the show.  And when it comes to listing that birdlife, the marsh will never offer a greater variety of species than in early fall.  This morning’s teal hunt provided my latest example.  The activity began with the predawn whisper of unseen wings.  And although the blue-wings would prove to be less plentiful than I had hoped for, there were plenty of other bird species to keep me entertained.  By the time it was half-light, I had already gathered an ever-growing list of local inhabitants including wood ducks, mallards, sora rails, yellowthroats and a pair of four-foot-tall sandhill cranes.  As the morning continued, the list continued to lengthen.    

But the bird I’ll remember most from my morning outing wasn’t the largest, the loudest, or even the most colorful.  It was, in fact, the smallest -- a brown and boisterous little creature known as the marsh wren.

Marsh wrens are the cheeriest birds in the marsh; or at least that’s the way they seem to me.  They are always among the first to greet the impending sunrise – and they do so with enthusiastic jubilance.  Their varied repertoire is dominated by a high pitched, buzzing trill that is repeated time and again.  When combined with the soft rustle of swaying cattails, the vocalizations become a peaceful