House Wrens

[Retired W4]

About 20 years ago we bought this gourd for the front porch and for most years we had house wrens take up house keeping and produced baby wrens. For the last few years we have had several feral cats on the porch which was cause for alarm and the females would not accept the male's invitations to settle in. The cats are gone now and the male wren, with his incessant mating call finally convinced a female to settle in with him. Today the babies hatched out and both proud parents are franticly going in and out bringing food to their new charges. I don't know how many baby wrens are in the gourd but as they get a little bigger their big mouths will be anxiously poking out of the hole trying to be the one to get the next insect brought to the nest. A few years ago, while watching the nest, I got to witness the little ones leave the nest. One by one they flew down to the railing to join the parents. Then it was over to the azaleas where they gathered with the adults who took them off to the woods so the parents could show them where to find food. Next year it will start all over again with the males, who are very territorial, building their nests and try to convince a female to join him. I'm just hoping I will be lucky again this year to see the young leave the gourd.

 

[SMSgt]

The only thing that ever got in my gourd birdhouse was a screech owl. Stayed about a month. Black-bellied whistler ducks with chicks I get by the dozens. I'll have to build a birdhouse for them.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

When I owned the bed & breakfast about a quarter mile down the
hill from my cabin I would have several "territorial," as you note,
wrens take up residence on the property. I loved listening to them.

Since I've been up here -- only 230' in elevation higher than the
inn but buried in the woods -- I haven't seen a one nesting.

I always see bluebirds and robins in the spring trying to rebuild
nests on the top corner log of my cabin. Some years I see their
offspring.

Each year is different.

 

[ameridaddy]

We've had wrens nesting around our house forever. They seem attracted to people things, even those only a few feet off the ground. Off and on over the years, they've even nested in a wreath my wife hung on one of our doors, so for weeks, we had to take the long way around to let the baby wrens fledge. They're not only cute little things, but have a joyful song we like to hear.
We've put three of these Williamsburg bottle bird houses around our place, and both the wrens and bluebirds nest in them every year. They have a V notch in the base that lets them hang horizontally from a screw or nail in a wall.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

This is the natural way to get your kids to move out. Show them their next meal is someplace else!

Ivan

 

[JohnRippert]

I had one wren chick give me his/her opinion of my watching and taking pics. Yup, that is the back end you are looking at.

 

[Greyman50]

We had just about every type of bird that flew up the coast at our old place. Had couple families of wrens that nested in plastic containers dog meds came in. Had the containers 50’ apart so no fighting. These guys with their wives would come every spring.

 

[charlie sherrill]

Every year they build a nest on my extension ladder I have hung up near the roof in a shed. It remains there until they finish raising their family. Several years ago I had a 3/4 ton truck with a 8,000 lb. winch and winch bumper on the front of it. Early one morning I hooked my boat and trailer to it and went fishing around some oil rigs in the Gulf. When I came back in from fishing and loaded my boat I noticed a nest in the winch bumper with four baby wrens, all hungry with their mouths open. I figured they made it that far and the best thing to do was leave them alone and park in the same spot in my yard that I had left from. I got home about an hour before dark and all the babies were still there. Mom and Dad were waiting with bugs in their mouth and immediately started feeding them. I left the truck where it was until they moved out. Weird thing about that trip was while we were tied to the oil rigs wrens were flying from the rig and landing in the bottom of my boat and eating lunch scraps and bait scraps. One of them would light on my fishing rod and wait for the next meal. I guess they must be very versatile.

 

[Maddog 521]

The wrens are fun to have around. I clipped an old baseball cap to a clothes line on the back patio and a pair moved into it. They come as go often and hang around the back yard and sing their song most days.

 

[greeman]

A few years ago I had a batch hatched in a flower pot.

 

[Faulkner]

A few years ago I had a batch hatched in a flower pot.

Those look like Carolina wrens to me.

 

[WardenRoss]

Wifey keeps a fancy wreath on the front door.

The wrens love it and will build a nest in it. The problem comes to play when you open the door and they fly into the house. Makes for an interesting bird hunt. Of course, catch and release.

I finally learned to place a dryer sheet in the wreath. Problem solved!


,

 

[Kevin J.]

My wren house. Sounds like there are about four new chicks inside, keeping mom and dad busy with food delivery’s. Cute birds but so loud for such little critters, maybe they are just drunk.
BTW those are DUI plates (not mine ) for the roof, which I thought was appropriate with the paint job.

 

[Kevin J.]

Looks like today was move out day for the kids.

 

[Kinman]

We usually have House Finches around the area, this year we were startled to have a little fledgling take to us, she lit on both my wife and I and would not shut up, chirp, chirp, chirp. Hop on my hand, she entertained us for more than an hour. Turns out she is a Pine Siskin, a local bird and of the Finch family. She came back six days later much more confident on the wing and still happy to perch on my hand, hop on our shoulders, sing and carry on. We considered it a blessing and although we miss our neighbor's cat he was a bird killing machine. We are going to put up a thistle feeder in hopes she will stick around. As long as there are no sparrows I don't abide them.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

... Turns out she is a Pine Siskin, ....

Wonderful little tiny creatures. "Flibbertigibbet," I call them.

They usually travel in herds, here.

Their sound reminds me of auctioneers.

Always the stars of the show. A vaudeville act, perhaps?