Wintering grounds of North American House Wrens as revealed by band recoveries

We analyzed 2426 records of recoveries of banded House Wrens (Troglodytes a edon) to identify wintering sites of individuals coming from different part s of this species' broad North American breeding range. Records suggest tha t most birds breeding approximately east of the Appalachian Mountains (n = 6) winter in the far southeastern United States, especially Florida. In con trast, birds breeding west of the Appalachian Mountains (n = 23) into the e astern Great Plains may winter anywhere from South Carolina and Florida wes t into Texas. It also appears that individuals from the same breeding popul ations winter in different sites. The few recoveries (n = 4) of birds from breeding sites on the western Great Plains indicate that at least some indi viduals from this region travel not due south but rather southeast during m igration and winter in the eastern half of the southern U.S. No long-distan ce recoveries have been made of birds from breeding in or west of the Rocky Mountains.