ML645841237

Observation details

*2nd record for Lincoln County in eBird and the first since 1985! I noticed the 1985 record (https://ebird.org/checklist/S63723307) while looking for potential Pacific Wren spots in the county and figured while it was a 40 year old record, it might at least give me an idea of what habitat to search for. Going off of nothing but the pinned record, I was absolutely delighted to confirm that there is at least 1 Pacific Wren still at this location 40 years later! I first heard the bird at 42.7491113, -110.8252555, about half a mile before the 1985 pin. I did hike to the pinned location to see if I could find any other individuals with no success. On my return, I took a small path down to the creek to get recordings and photos of the bird. The song was similar to Winter Wren, loud, complex, and bubbling, but with a less musical quality and longer duration. The bird itself was a small, short-tailed wren with a very faint eyestripe and a richer warm-toned brown than Winter Wren. I got some great audio, video, and photos. The habitat was a shaded steep-sided creek that was surrounded by lichen and moss-covered Engelmann spruces. The understory was very lush with forbs, dominated by thimbleberry as well as some sumacs (?). This habitat was present for about half a mile in either direction.