Taxonomy
Tryglodytes cobbi
Cobb’s wren forms a superspecies with:
- Troglodytes aedon
- T. brunneicollis
- T. musculus
- T. tanneri
- T. beani
Morphology
- Crown and nape grey-brown, becoming browner on the back and shoulders and brighter rusty-brown on the rump.
- Primaries and secondaries blackish-grey on inner webs, the outer webs with warm brown transverse bars, forming alternating ‘black and brown’ bars visible on the closed wing.
- Rectrices warm brown, with narrow blackish bars across the entire tail.
- Lores, cheeks and ear-coverts unmarked grey-brown; chin and throat lighter grey-brown.
- Chest and belly unmarked grey-brown; flanks and undertail coverts rusty-brown.
- Iris brown; bill blackish; legs dark brown.
Diagnostic description
A dark wren with uniformly dark chestnut-brown upperparts, pale greyish-buff underparts and greyish head. Wings and tail barred blackish and pale buff. Slender backish bill.
Similar in appearance to Northern and Southern house wrens (Troglogytes aedon and T. musculus), though distinguished by its larger size, generally greyer plumage and very different ecology.
Look alikes
The only other wren present on the Falkland Islands is the Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis), which is smaller, shorter-billed, paler, and with obvious black and buff striations on the shoulders