The wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) is a small bird that lives in chaparral, oak woodlands, and bushland on the western coast of North America.

[citation needed] Through DNA sequence analysis, it was subsequently discovered that the wrentit was more closely allied to Sylvia warblers and some aberrant "babblers".

[8] As such an abolishing of the senior synonym would require a formal International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruling and the typical warblers and relatives are still a monophyletic group at present, this proposal is not advanced by most researchers until the remaining Sylviidae and Timaliidae genera are studied as regards their relationships.

[citation needed] In 2019, a major taxonomic revision of species formerly classified as "babblers" recovered Chamaea as being most closely allied with the parrotbills and fulvettas, which are otherwise an exclusively Asian group.

It nests in 1 metre (3 ft) high shrubs such as poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) and California blackberry (Rubus ursinus).

Both sexes also defend their territory year-round and participate in building the nest, a four-stage process that takes about two weeks.