When I hike the nearby tiny portion of the North Country Trail, now declared a national park, by the way, the two things I am always sure to carry are my cellphone and binoculars. The phone because it has the bird identification app and the binoculars so I can find what I hear.

This fall, while walking along a creek in a ravine, I spotted movement among the rocks and fallen branches. Thinking it was a chipmunk, I took a closer look and discovered a tiny, brown bird foraging away. It didn’t seem threatened so I settled in to watch.

Its busy movements were accompanied by a song I wasn’t familiar with. The app told me it was a winter wren.

I am familiar with two of our fairly common other wren species, but this was a new one for me. Winter wrens are migratory. They spend the summer in Canada and come to Ohio for the winter. Its preferred habitat is exactly where I discovered it – near a stream in the woods where it moves among the rocks and downed branches.

Wrens might be tiny and a bit drab, but they are big on personality. Their songs are loud and easy to identify, and their nonstop activity is fun to watch. They use their long, slender bills to feed on insects, seeds and fruit.

Their choice of nesting sites can be opportunistic and creative. Let’s take a look at two that are found in our area.

The Carolina wren is a full-time resident and will sometimes visit the bird feeder. On a cold winter morning, its “teakettle-teakettle” song is a bright spot of sound. Its upper body is a russet brown and lower is cream colored. A white stripe runs along the sides of its head.

They nest in a variety of habitats and use dried plant matter, hair and feathers to build a mounded nest with a side entrance.

It gets interesting when they live in suburban areas. Nests can be found in mailboxes, gas grills, flower pots or any other available crevice. I have found nests in window boxes and under the propane tank lid.

House wrens are a summer species. They are cavity nesters and build with a base of twigs, then softer materials above that. To combat the mites that may kill the young, it is thought they add spider nest sacs to the nest. I have watched them searching and removing sacs from under patio furniture.

When I first hear the bubbly song in early May, I hang several nest boxes for them. A male will loudly claim the territory and begin nests in them. The female chooses one for the two broods she will produce.

I watched a brood leaving a box one summer. A tiny head peeked out the hole until it was either brave enough to jump or pushed from behind. One after another, four or five of them fluttered out.

I was in the right place at the right time that day.

To learn more about this bird, go to http://go.osu.edu/wren

Steffen is an Ohio State University Master Gardener Volunteer in Mahoning County.