This little chubster was singing his heart out on top of a greasewood the other day when I was wandering along with a band of mustangs. I found out later that he’s a rock wren.
I know I just wrote on a previous post that I’m not an app person, but if you like birds and you don’t have the free Merlin bird-identification app on your phone, get it! I’ve had it for a while, but I’ve been slow to adopt some of the features – like recording bird songs in the area and seeing what Merlin says I’m listening to. I’ve done that when I can hear birds but not see them, and that’s how I first heard/identified rock wrens, when I was above the (dry) Spring Creek arroyo (in Spring Creek Basin) a couple of weeks ago. This is not an ad for Merlin, but I do use it a fair bit, and it’s one that I find super useful, so I thought I’d share (also, it’s specifically the only way I know what that little bird IS!).
For the pic above, I uploaded that to my app, and it gave me the ID, just like that. 🙂 Little brother was LOUD and enthusiastic. Apparently, this is part of their breeding grounds, so no wonder he was singing his heart out!
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
He’s one pretty chirper, TJ. And you caught a perfect photo. I love the idea of an app that listens to bird songs and identifies the singer! That is extremely helpful. There are so many cool wrens in the desert and this one is new to me. Thanks, TJ!