Canyon Wren; typical song. © Bob McGuire.

The song of the Canyon Wren is quite distinctive: a series of bright musical notes that cascade downward in pitch, often (but not always) ending with a raspy churr.

The following immersive soundscape was recorded at a White-throated Swift colony in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was dusk and the microphone was placed at the base of a large cliff. Crickets were chirping and a Canyon Wren sang periodically from a ledge high above (note that this male does not end his songs with a churr, as does the male in the above recording):

Immersive Soundscape: Canyon Wren singing from a ledge at a White-throated Swift colony in the Black Hills of South Dakota. 7pm, 5 May 2011. Listen also for the buzzing of flies, peents of a Common Nighthawk, the chatter of a Red Squirrel, chittering of swifts and swallows, and a very distant Poorwill at times.

The calls of the Canyon Wren are loud and buzzy:

Canyon Wren; buzzy calls. © Bob McGuire.