It takes very little to entertain me...
And when Mr. and Mrs. Carolina Wren (whom we have named George and Gracie) move in to our secluded balcony to nest and raise their young? Well, that's better than a $20 movie any day!
Follow me as I take you through the life of a Carolina Wren nest, as seen through my lens!
Karen
Our story actually begins about a month ago when George began construction on a under my plant table on our balcony.
Carolina Wrens mate for life. They do not migrate, and establish a territory about 1/4 to 1/2 mile square. In Spring, the male (in this case, George) begins construction on 8-12 nests within his territory. He will construct them anywhere from half-finished to near completion.
He then escorts his lady (in this case, Gracie) around to see his nests, and she makes final decision on whiich one will be used. At that time, they will complete the nest together, mating occurs, and well... you know the rest.
Long story short, we were not accepted for the first nest. Knowing a bit more, I did not tear out the half-constructed nest. Even after a nest has been selected, the male will continue to work on the top contenders, as "back-ups"... in case of nest destruction, etc. Also, being the paranoid type, the Mrs. will rarely use the same nest a second time in the same breeding season (typically two clutches a summer).
So on or about June 15th, construction on our nest began again!
By June 20th or so, I knew we had been selected for nest site #2. Both George and Gracie were making appearances, and adding to the nest. Gracie is indeed a paranoid one, often growling at the cats where they watch from the sliding glass door! Remy and Sky are not pleased that they have been banned from the balcony at this time. (The entire nesting and raising will only take about four weeks.)
On June 24th, I noticed that Gracie went into the nest and didn't come out.
Aahhhh.... eggs!
Carolina Wren females sit very tight to their nest, only leaving about six times a day. Waiting for her to go out was tedious!
Five little brown-speckled eggs!
We noticed in the past two days that the activity has accelerated. Both George and Gracie are coming and going alot! And coming in with food!
Good morning new world!
George is proudly singing the announcement that his chicks have arrived!
How COOL!!!!! Thank you for the progression
Thank you for sharing the photos, Karen! Those are my fav birds. Beautiful singers!
I used to have some around, singing and eating at the feeders. They suddenly disappeared in early summer this year. Not sure what happened, eaten by hawks or moved away. :o(
Nice to see them.
Adorable Karen. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Karen for such a lovely thread. I'm reserving a spot here to watch your new family Wrens. Enjoy your story telling. Nicely done!
Egad!!! so jealous!
great that you (& now we) can watch them.
What a wonderful thread, Karen. Well told and great pictures. I look forward to following their journey to fledging.
Oh, Karen: I'm so glad George made his home (albeit temporary) at the home of such a fabulous photographer! Thank you so much for sharing!
Karen, I was mesmerized as I went from post-to-post and picture-to-picture!! It reminded me of one of those children's books with a picture on each page, but this one was written for adults...and written so well!
Thank You so much for sharing! I will check back here frequently.
Karen so cute, thanks for sharing the pictures. Ric has a wren nesting in the GH they set up a nest in a hanging basket. The babies are still in the nest but they can fly as Ric found out when he watered the basket and scared them.
thanks Karen!!!
Thanks for sharing...I would love to have some nest where I could watch!!
We have Wrens too, but in an enclosed birdhouse, nice to be able to see inside the nest
Very nice Karen. This year I had 2 Wren nest in the GH. One was in a hanging basket, never used, the other was in a wall hanging, which have fledged. Last year I had one set up house in the open drawer of a bolt cabinet in the barn, her brood was also a success. We also had one in the back eave of the potting shed a couple of years ago.
Thanks everyone!
We have been gone since Tuesday evening, for a visit to my Mom's...
We are just arriving home this evening, and it is too dark on the balcony for me to get a peek.
I will certainly take a look in the morning and try to get a photo or two posted then!
As always, thanks for looking and showing an interest in our babies.
Karen
Karen, I look forward to your update in the morning!
As much as I enjoy your pictures I truly appreciate you sharing with us what you have learned and observed about their behavior. Thank you.
Judy
KAREN............good to see you pleasing us all. Thanks.
Karen: I don't know how I missed these on the first go-round. How you got in for those close-ups -- unbelievable! What a story! I loved every sentence.
Sorry folks! I kinda puttered out on my updates didn't I???
Our Ma and Pa wrens raised a nice brood of five. It happened so fast that I actually missed the day they all fledged altogether! it was really cool and a privelege to us, to have them trust us enough to raise the chicks on our balcony.
This message was edited Sep 27, 2013 3:32 PM
The last photo I posted was the day they hatched..... July 2nd.
This is Ma coming in to check on them that day.
Oops! I had already posted that photo!
These are the chicks on fledge day.
I had gone out that morning to get the above photo, and then went to run errands. When I returned, they were all gone! All that was left was Pa singing his heart out on our balcony! I like to believe he was thanking us!
This message was edited Sep 27, 2013 3:35 PM
Thanks for looking and so sorry I never finished this thread until now! Summer got away from me as it usually does!
The hummers are now gone, and I have just put up our new "squirrel proof" (yeah right!) bird feeder for the winter birds. It took less than five minutes for the chickadees and titmouse to find it! We will all have to get a new bird watching thread going! Look forward to seeing everyone's backyard birds!
Karen
I just made a new thread for bird watching!
Please join us here...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1335658/
We have a lot of trees so the birds like today make noises & we can't see them. I THINK that the red bellied woodpeckers were sounding off. Chickadees & gold finches at the tube feeder. We have to get suet with red pepper to keep the squirrels off the packs, but the place where we get them is closed on Sat & Mon. Always remember on those days.
