Carolina Wrens are pesky, adaptable to home By Jay V. Huner |
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Ever gone to your workshop in early spring to find a tool in a box or bag or reached for a favorite work hat only to find a bird nest, often with a bird or perhaps with eggs or nestlings in it? Well, you are hosting Carolina Wrens. These are highly adaptable birds that nest in all sorts of nooks and crannies as long as they are open to the outside world. Carolina Wrens are small, 5.5 inch birds, reddish brown above with buffy orange underparts and white throats. There are distinct white eye lines (each called a supercillium by ornithologists). The bill is long and thin and down-turned. Carolina Wrens are conspicuous and have little apparent fear of humans. They literally bounce all around our homes, out buildings, gardens and yards. These attractive birds show up on patios next to sliding glass doors and on window sills. When you see the birds so up close and personal in the spring, you will usually find a nest in an inconvenient place when you get out and start cleaning up around your house. Carolina Wrens seem very curious but what we call curiosity is surely foraging behavior. It just happens that the wrens are searching high and low for insects including caterpillars and spiders to feed their four or five nestlings where we can easily see them. In our region nesting begins in March. If there is plenty of food around, a pair of wrens may nest as many as three times before fall comes. Carolina Wrens are basically meat eaters but they often show up around seed feeders. If you watch closely, they are mostly looking for bugs associated with spoiled feed. However, they will eat some berries in the winter and often come to suet feeders not only in winter but also when feeding nestlings. How can you tell if there are Carolina Wrens near you? Listen for their songs and calls. I believe that the late Professor George Lowery, Jr. best describes this wren's song. He uses the terms "tea-kettle, tea-kettle" or "wheedle, wheedle." Fussing wrens put out a very loud clattering chatter. Often, one of a pair will sing and the mate will reply with the clattering chatter. The volume of sound produced by the tiny Carolina Wrens is very impressive. Folks unfamiliar with these birds will look for a much larger bird when they hear them singing and can actually overlook them! Carolina Wrens are found across the south and eastern USA northward to the Great Lakes. In our piney woods area, we have seven species of wrens including the Carolina Wren. But, only the Marsh Wren lives here permanently and, then only in marsh areas. The rest are winter visitors. I have never found any to hang around homes and barns on a regular basis. But if a wintering wren looks odd, check a bird field guide to see what you have found. While House Wrens may hang around homes in northern breeding grounds, my experience is that they avoid them in their southern wintering grounds. Jay V. Huner |
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