House Wrens Move In

Some might say we are a bit obsessed with all these birds and boxes, and trail cams trying to records who is roosting where, but my father once told me that after meeting all essential life requirements, everyone should have a hobby and they should not feel obligated to explain it to anyone. So there.

We have many bird nest boxes, of various types, that we have put up around our property. But, we also have a pretty large, bird friendly property. We have a standard Purple Martin House and a Gourd Tower for those birds that prefer a less rectangular abode. We have Bluebird boxes, and we have extra Bluebird boxes for the Tree Swallows. We have additional boxes over those native birds’ needs to provide housing to House Sparrows that don’t realize they have moved into population control homes to limit their reproduction and their negative impact on native species.

And, we now have a House Wren “box” which is actually just a standard Bluebird box. It happens to be close to a stand of mature trees and I see it being used as a perch for Bluebirds and a hunting platform for an Eastern Kingbird as well as what I believe is some sort of flicker or woodpecker that I don’t recognize.

I have heard the House Wren singing for weeks at the far west end of our front yard, but I never realized that it had taken up residence in the box until we checked it for eggs and saw brown ones! After a bit of research I figured it was a House Wren. Still, Robert felt compelled to move the Trail Cam that we had been using to watch the Bluebirds fledge, to the box which contains the brown eggs just to make certain I had my facts straight, I suppose. So, I have a degree in Biology and I spent seven months in Monte Verde, Costa Rica studying nest site displacement of Hoffman’s Woodpeckers by Emerald Toucanets. OK. That was back in 1982, so I get his need to fact check me. I’m cool with being well monitored by my husband regarding my hobby. This is where I would normally insert an emoji with a crooked smile. But, I don’t have one handy at the moment.

Here’s a photo of the eggs. It’s not the best quality image because we are trying out a wireless, endoscope camera that I feel is less invasive than opening the door of the box. Curiously, this bird seemed to have an interest in blue paper. We all need to express ourselves.

Here is the Trail Cam footage (one minute per motion detection) of the House Wren singing with wild abandon atop the box. He also flits to the opening to peer inside, then back to the top for a bit more song.