Eurasian Wren vs Northern Gannet
Troglodytes troglodytes compared with Morus bassanus
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Eurasian Wren | Northern Gannet |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Troglodytes troglodytes | Morus bassanus |
| Order | Passeriformes | Suliformes |
| Family | Troglodytidae | Sulidae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 9.5 cm (3.7 in) | 93.0 cm (36.6 in) |
| Wingspan | 15.0 cm (5.9 in) | 180.0 cm (70.9 in) |
| Weight | 9.0 g (0.32 oz) | 3000.0 g (105.82 oz) |
| Diet | Insects and spiders, gleaned from dense vegetation, rock crevices, and bark. Active and restless forager. | Shoaling fish, especially mackerel, herring, and capelin. Plunge-dives from heights of 30 meters at speeds … |
| Clutch Size | 3-9 | 1 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Eurasian Wren
Dense undergrowth in woodlands, gardens, hedgerows, and rocky areas. Prefers tangled vegetation close to the ground.
Northern Gannet
Open ocean and coastal waters. Breeds in dense colonies on steep rocky islands and sea stacks.
Song & Call Comparison
Eurasian Wren
Extraordinarily loud for its tiny size: a rapid, powerful stream of trills, buzzes, and churring phrases. One of Europe's loudest songs by volume relative to body weight.
Northern Gannet
Loud, harsh 'urrah-urrah' grunting and croaking at breeding colonies on sea stacks. Also gives a softer 'karrr' in flight. Large colonies are extremely noisy during the breeding season.
Geographic Range & Migration
Eurasian Wren
Eurasia from Iceland and western Europe to Japan. The only wren species found outside the Americas.
Northern Gannet
North Atlantic, breeding from Newfoundland and Gulf of St. Lawrence to Norway, Iceland, and Britain. Winters at sea south to the tropics.
Conservation Status
Eurasian Wren
Northern Gannet
How to Tell Them Apart
Eurasian Wren
Warm rufous-brown upperparts with fine dark barring. Pale buffy underparts with barred flanks. Short, often cocked tail.
Thin, slightly curved, dark brown bill
Northern Gannet
Brilliant white body with black wingtips and a golden-yellow wash on the head and nape. Blue-grey bill with dark lines and pale blue eye-ring.
Long, straight, pointed, pale blue-grey bill with serrated edges
About These Birds
Eurasian Wren
The Eurasian wren is one of the smallest birds in Europe but possesses an astonishingly loud song for its size. Males build multiple dome-shaped nests, from which the female selects one to line and use. In British folklore, the wren is known as the king of birds for outwitting the eagle in a flying contest.
Northern Gannet
The northern gannet is a spectacular plunge-diver, folding its two-meter wingspan into an arrow shape to hit the water at up to 100 km/h. Air sacs under the skin and a reinforced skull protect it from the impact. Bass Rock in Scotland hosts over 150,000 gannets, the largest single colony of any seabird in the world.