Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

The Carolina wren is my mom’s favorite bird species, so much so that when my parents were contemplating potential names for their only child, Wren was in the running. My father ultimately vetoed Wren Reiger; he was concerned about the bullying I’d receive as a young boy wearing a “feminine name” in the rural South…and that was without knowing I’d be a socially-withdrawn kid who preferred to spend recess reading, drawing, or looking for critters at the unmaintained edges of school property. Surely, the name Wren would have further complicated my childhood and adolescence. And, yet, I feel an affinity for the name along with the bird family.

The Carolina wren is an attractive little bird, with a palette of creamy tans, ochres, golds, chestnut, and chocolate, but it’s more often heard than seen, preferring deep thickets, overgrown forests, and abandoned buildings. In fact, the wren’s family name is Troglodytidae, which means “cave dweller,” a moniker assigned because of their habitat preferences and foraging habits; they flit through dense vegetation close to the ground, poking in and out of shadowed nooks and crannies in search of spiders and insects. But while the Carolina wren may go overlooked, you *will* hear it. In the eastern United States, the wren’s song is a beloved staple of the late spring and summer woods. Teakettle, teakettle, teakettle, tea! Writer and naturalist J. Drew Lanham describes Carolina wrens as “lively loud-mouthed things, […] reliable alarm clocks that come with the first light.” There are worse ways to wake…and worse names to wear.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.