It lives in thickets, brush piles and hedgerows, open woodlands and scrubby areas, often near streams.

[3] In 1827, the American ornithologist John James Audubon included an illustration of Bewick's wren under the binomial name Troglodytes bewickii in his The Birds of America.

[4] In the companion Ornithological Biography, published four years later, Audubon explained that he had shot the specimen near St. Francisville, Louisiana in 1821 and had chosen the specific epithet bewickii in honour of his friend the engraver Thomas Bewick.

[5] Bewick's wren is now the only species placed in the genus Thryomanes that was introduced by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1862.

[10] Its plumage is brown on top and light grey underneath, with a white stripe above each eye.

Eastern populations, prior to their decline, were described as being more colorful, such as having a reddish tint to its brown feathers.

[11] The Bewick's wren once had a range that extended throughout much of the United States and Mexico and parts of Canada.

It used to be fairly common in the Midwest and in the Appalachian Mountains, but it is now extremely rare east of the Mississippi River.

Eastern populations, prior to their decline, used to migrate from its northern range to the Gulf Coast.

[3] Bewick's wrens are capable of hanging upside down in order to acquire food, such as catching an insect on the underside of a branch.

[15] Like many insect-eating birds, the Bewick's wren widens its diet to include seeds in the winter.

[2] The male wren begins building the nest in a cavity or birdhouse, with the female joining in later.

[18] In 2014, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative placed the eastern Bewick's wren on its watch list.

[19] Several theories have been proposed to explain its decline in its eastern range, including pesticide use and competition from other bird species.

In San Diego, the development of canyons has led to the gradual decline of native bird species, including the Bewick's wren.