Gourd works for House Wrens

by Ken
(Buffalo Grove, Illinois)

A relative was going to grow and finish gourd birdhouses and sell them on eBay.

We ended up with a complimentary prototype.

I figured it was just a tree decoration, but as it turned out it was quite functional.

I think the male must have taken 2 weeks or longer to attract a mate.

Day after day, hour after hour, morning till night, the same song over and over with no letup, until the magic day when they met.

I don't know about other nests the male constructed, but the female picked the gourd.

Since the eggs hatched (3 of them) and the task of feeding the chicks began, the adults have become silent.

One of the parents is the nest cleaner, and that's real love, seeing as all they have to clean with is their beaks. Nuf said about that.

I hope to witness and photograph the young's first flight.

Wren Nesting In Cacti

by Sharon O'Neil
(Powhatan, VA)

I just noticed this nest this morning.

It was constructed very quickly as I watered the Christmas cacti last Friday before leaving for the weekend and there was no sign of it.

I heard the male wren singing while perched on a wind chime support on the porch this morning.

I tilted the blinds slightly to get a better look at him and noticed the nest.

The female flew from it just a bit after that.

I went out and examined it taking the pics at that time.

There are no eggs yet but I'm hopeful to see some soon!

I'm reminded of a wren building a nest in a potted plant on our porch in Texas many years ago when my girls were small.

It was exciting for all of us to observe the progress of the nestlings including fledging.

Our Singing Friends

by Neal Cardin
(Sonora, KY)

When our house wrens come to start their nest, it is a very enjoyable time, but not a quiet time.

It is never hard to tell when they are in the area as their song is sung loudly and often starts very early in the morning.

We've never had a hard time attracting the house wrens.

A simple small house hung on the clothesline brought our first two pairs in several years ago.

After moving, we hung two houses under the porch of a storage building during the winter as spring rolled around, in come the birds.

Our birds have never seemed to mind us being around their boxes until this year.

Before they would sing and let us know if we were close, but this year they've become really defensive.

Part of it may be the young cats that have become permanent residents at our house.

The cats can't get to the birds or the boxes, but we know the wrens have a fit when the cat gets near.

One particular bird become very defensive after the eggs hatched.

While watering the flowers one morning near the boxes, one bird followed me and tried to grab my shirt sleeve as I walked away.

We love it when they are around.

We have several other types of birds around our house, but nothing else seems to enjoy singing loud and constantly as the wrens.

We hope they keep coming back.

Wrens Return to our Porch

Two years ago a Carolina Wren made a nest on our porch in a wreath. We named him Little Buddy and became intrigued.

We kept peeking in the wreath to watch the progress which I thought was probably bothersome to the little family.

So, we taped a webcam to the wreath and ran the video to our computer.

We found out we could stream the video and we did...we had a following of kindergartners, libraries, preschools, and normal people like you and me.

It was riveting. We watched the momma nest, then saw the eggs, little hatchlings, and then they were gone.

These parents work hard to feed those babies!

Well, this year I have a cabinet on the porch and a wren is back. We call this one Junior.

Again we've set up the stream and have over 47 views already (in one day).

So far it seems the nest is built and a a bird is sleeping in it at night....anticipating some nesting soon.

Wrens Winter Nights

by William Lowe
(Bridgehampton)

We have a family of wrens that are around all winter on Long Island.

If we do not close the garage door early enough at night, as many as three wrens will be in the garage at daylight looking to get out.

Even though we see no sign of them when we close the garage door.

When they do get shut out of the garage, they will roost for the night in the wreath that hangs on the front door.

This surprises any after dark visitors during the Christmas season as the wrens flee the wreath as company approaches.

My guess is they are looking for warmth through the night.

Peeping Wren

by Karla Joblin
(Tupelo MS USA)

If you look in the "hole" in the middle of this nest, you can see the momma Carolina Wren sitting on her eggs.

She and her mate built their nest in a hanging planter basket that was turned sideways on a shelf in our garage.

My husband adjusted the garage door so that it wouldn't close completely and shut them in or shut them out.

They carried in leaves, twigs, and bark over a period of several days, but then we didn't see them and thought maybe they had decided to nest elsewhere.

But soon we saw a tiny egg in the nest followed by another a day or so later. After she finished laying she began sitting on the eggs day and night.

I'm not sure where her mate is staying, but he keeps a close eye on her. Anytime we go into the garage he flies out from wherever he is and perches up high to watch us and make sure we don't bother her.

Thank goodness he doesn't "dive bomb" us like I have seen mockingbirds do. He just watches us until we go inside.

She began sitting on the eggs on June 12 so we should have baby birds around June 26.

Wren Nesting In Fireplace Gas Tank Lid

by Mark Mathosian
(Advance, NC)

It is the beginning of summer in North Carolina and we noticed birds building nest in several trees around our home.

One day while sitting on our back deck we heard little tweets coming from the lid of our gas tank that sits near our master bedroom window.

Closer observation revealed twigs sticking out from under the lid. I carefully opened the lid and a small bird flew out.

Closer observation revealed that this was in fact a bird's nest. I carefully closed the lid so as to not disturb the nest any further.

Then I worried that my tampering with the lid might have scared the bird away for good.

I told my wife about the nest and the small bird that flew away. Because many types of birds visit our yard, including blue birds, doves, blue Jays and others, we couldn't be sure what kind of bird it was based on my quick encounter.

We decided to be pay attention over time to see if the bird returned and then figure out what it was.

We watched and waited for several days and sure enough one day we spotted the small bird returning to the nest.

I obviously did not scare it away for good. My wife thought she recognized what type of bird it was and said it looked like a Wren.

She thumbed through the pages of bird watcher's book we often refer to and sure enough she located the drawing of a familiar bird, it was a Wren.

We first noticed the nest about two weeks ago. Now the tweets have become louder. This morning I carefully lifted the lid again and photographed the baby Wrens in their nest.

We are proud grandparents of at least 3 healthy baby Wrens. There may be another in the back of the nest but I am not sure.

Attached is a photo collage of our new extended family.

Mark Mathosian, Advance, NC

My Carolina Wren Guest

by Angela
(Zanesville, OH)

Hi! I am glad I found this site!

Every year I noticed these little brown birds. I always called them nosy birds because they always came to the porch while we were sitting there checking us out.

Anyhow, I would notice one would always build a nest in my hanging vine plant but they never stayed.

This year I saw the same thing, this little brown bird building another nest in same plant. Just last week. So I checked it out and was really impressed by this awesome little cave nest.

Seemed like it was going to remain empty again so I thought nothing of it. Then I go to water said plant and I hear a little "cheep" so I thought there were babies.

I put water the can away and come back to look at the nest and it was empty. So I was baffled I didn't really look deep enough.

So yesterday I look and as I tilted the plant forward and noticed about 4 little tiny eggs! So I must have watered poor mommy as she was laying an egg.

I hadn't seen mama in a while so I was worried she had abandoned the eggs. So I Google little brown nosy birds in Ohio and found a picture which led me to this site and was amazed at the stories.

So I look last night and there she was looking back at me. I took a picture this morning and there she still sat, a patient mama.

Hand Pump Hidden Nest

by Julie Marlay
(Ottumwa, IA)

I recently found an old hand water pump in my husband's shop. He decided to clean it up and paint it. We then mounted it to the corner of the deck hand rail.

It only took a few weeks, when I noticed there was a pair of wrens going in and out of the pump spout. As I continued watching, they started bringing small sticks.

It became quite comical if the stick was turned perpendicular to spout and wouldn't go into spout. Eventually, they would drop it enough times that it would be in the correct position for entry.

Whenever I needed to water flowers on or near the pump, I would get scolded for being too close. Once, the little female was right at eye level with her warnings!

In a few weeks, we could hear the chirping of the hatchlings. We watched as female would fly in with food, then wait for male to arrive.

You could see her little beak outside the spout as she took the meal from the male. He would occasionally go into spout, but the majority of times, it was the female.

I only saw one of the babies take its first flight, but didn't have a camera. The photo I have included is the female entering the spout.