Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) [XC555070]
by Manuel Grosselet from Arlington, Snohomish County, Washington, United States (song)
Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) [XC274880]
by Richard E. Webster from Bishop, Inyo County, California, Mexico (song)
Subspecies
Taxonomy complex and highly disputed. Sometimes placed in genus Troglodytes, on basis of voice, behaviour and plumage, but this is without reference to DNA considerations. In the past, considered by some to form a superspecies with Socorro Wren (Troglodytes sissonii), with suggestion that they might even be conspecific. Current information suggests it may be closely related to Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus).
Other proposed subspecies: from southern California (USA), correctus (San Benito County south to San Diego), nesophilus (islands of Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa) and catalinae (Santa Catalina I), all synonymized with charienturus. Also, birds from central Mexico (Jalisco, southern Zacatecas), described as subspecies percnus, appear indistinguishable from murinus. Subspecies leucophrys (San Clemente I, off southern California) and brevicauda (Guadalupe I, off Baja California) both extinct.
The following 18 subspecies are recognised:
calophonus Oberholser, 1898 - Extreme south-western Canada (south-western British Columbia) and western USA (western Washington, western Oregon). Non-breeding northern California.
atrestus Oberholser, 1932 - South-central Oregon, north-eastern California and west-central Nevada.
marinensis Grinnell, 1910 - North-western California (Del Norte south to Marin County).
spilurus (Vigors, 1839) - Central coastal California south to Monterey Bay.
drymoecus Oberholser, 1898 - Central California (including Sacramento Valley).
charienturus Oberholser, 1898 - Southern California (southern from San Benito County) and north-western Mexico (Baja California south to c. 30° north), including some offshore islands.
cerroensis (Anthony, 1897) - I de Cedros and adjacent mainland of Baja California.
magdalenensis Huey, 1942 - South-western Baja California (26° north south to 24° north).
eremophilus Oberholser, 1898 - Interior south-western USA (eastern California, Nevada and southern Utah east to western Texas) and west-central Mexico (north-eastern Sonora, Chihuahua and Coahuila south to northern Zacatecas).
bewickii (Audubon, 1827) - Central USA (Nebraska and northern and eastern Kansas east to Mississippi).
cryptus Oberholser, 1898 - Western and southern Kansas, western Oklahoma and much of Texas (except west) south to north-eastern Mexico (northern Nuevo León, northern Tamaulipas).
sadai (Phillips, AR, 1986) - Coast from southern Texas to central Tamaulipas.
murinus (Hartlaub, 1852) - Central plateau of Mexico (from southern Zacatecas and southern Nuevo León south to Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos and Tlaxcala).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet