We ran into both rock and canyon wrens this morning. In fact, they were within a few feet of each other which can happen because their habitat preferences overlap to some degree. To confound the situation, the canyon wrens were perched in a bush, a place where I rarely see them. Rock wrens have a more muted coloration of the two species. They are mostly gray with some brown tones on the back which is also covered subtly with speckles. On the front, they are a creamy white. Canyon wrens also have a light chest and belly, but theirs seem much brighter, perhaps because they show a lot more contrast with their chestnut back compared to the lower contrast shown by rock wrens. Another detail to look for is the beautiful black stripes on the rick reddish-brown tail of the canyon wren.