This is a mouse-like bird, only occasionally musters the courage to dart from its shadowy domain. The male and female are generally indistinguishable by external characters. Both sexes are small and brown, with dim streaks on a paler, often pinkish breast; generally paler and grayer in drier regions. Both sexes sing; the female's repeated single note is easily distinguishable from the male's fast trill introduced by several individual notes.

The Wrentit is a resident along the coastal slope; in the Columbia River Lowlands and in the south inland to the west Klamath Mountains. It uses a wide range of habitats depending on the geographic location.

Hear the song of the Wrentit

Photo by Martyne Reesman, ODFW