Wrentit Chamaea fasciata Gambel       Field Guide IDs: NG-326; G-232; PW-pl 45; AW-pl 484; AM(III)-60 Nest Location Nest Type Eggs & Mating System Dev. & Parental Care Primary & 2ndary Diet.. Foraging Strategy MF I: 15-16 DAYS ALTRICIAL 1 foot - 15 feet MF 4 (3-5) MONOG F: 15-16 DAYS MF BARK GLEAN BREEDING: Chaparral, scrub, well planted suburban areas. 2? broods. DISPLAYS: ? NEST: Base of cobwebs supporting coarse bark, with deep cup of fine bark, lined with fine fibers, hair. Outside often decorated with lichen. EGGS: Pale greenish-blue, unmarked. 0.7" (18 mm). DIET: Includes spiders; adults feed heavily on fruit, esp when insects scarce in fall and winter. Young fed 100% insects. CONSERVATION: Winter resident. Uncommon cowbird host. NOTES: "Bouncing ping pong ball" song is heard much more often than bird is seen; secretive in thick undergrowth. Extremely sedentary: mate for life and remain in 1 -- 2.5 --acre area. Young still beg from adults at 30-35 days. Tends to avoid singing when Bewick's Wrens sing (so as to avoid acoustic interference); usu follows wren by few minutes. Recent taxonomic work indicates neither a wren nor a tit (as chickadees are called in England), but a babbler (Timaliidae), an otherwise Old World family of insectivores. STANFORD. NOTES: Uncommon, very secretive resident in dense, brushy vegetation. Sparsely distributed on main campus but more common and widespread in scrub near the Dish and around faculty housing. ESSAYS: Birds, DNA and Evolutionary Convergence; DNA and Classification; Bathing and Dusting REFERENCES: Fleischer et al., 1985; Sibley and Ahlquist, 1984b.