The bird receiving the most votes this week was the house wren. It seems to be the right bird at the right time seeing I opened one of my wren boxes today and found five eggs. The male has been singing back there for three weeks now and I was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to attract a female. This will be the second time in the past three years that I'll have baby wrens in the back yard. The male tried for a month last year to attract a female and started a nest in every wren box I had. Unfortunately a female never showed up so it will be nice to have them back this year.
Before I start on the wrens I want to mention that I went looking for the indigo bunting at a local park today and I was lucky enough to spot one with in 20 minutes. If you ever get the chance to watch them in your area I highly recommend you give it a shot. They are one of the most beautiful birds you can see.
As you can see from the picture of the wren I took today on my fence, their a small (5") plump bird with lighter brown markings on the wings and tail. It has a slightly curved bill and faint buffy eyebrows. You can often identify them because if they are on alert or startled they carry their tail cocked up. The female and juvenile look the same as the male.
Their nest is a cavity and can be attracted using nesting boxes. In the spring the male establishes a small breeding territory by singing from exposed perches and putting stick foundations in prospective nest holes. When the female enters the territory, his song becomes very high and he vibrates his wings. Once they pair up the female chooses one of the nest and finishes it by adding a lining of soft material which I've notices includes spider webbing. She will lay between 4-6 eggs that are tan with brown markings. Sources say both male and female incubate while others say the female incubates and the male feeds her during this period. I guess I'll have to pay more attention this week and see what happens. The incubation period is 10-15 days. Once hatched the fledgling stage is 12-15 days. Both male and female feed the young.
As far as food sources go they are insect eaters and forages on the ground and in foliage to find them. I've had good success feeding them meal worms from a tray or lately I've been using a cling on woodpecker feeder that has tubes that I can put the meal worms in. By doing this it helps in keeping out unwanted birds from eating from them.
House wrens are migrators and their migration is complete to southern states and Mexico.
If you have not tried attracting them to your yard you may want to give it a try. They can be aggressive to other hole nesting birds and have even been known to destroy their eggs and young. I've always found them to be very pleasant to have around and their song is wonderful. Also I love their little bullet shape and love their spunky personalities.
Remember to vote for next weeks bird in the side bar. If the bird your interested in is not listed drop me an email at ohiohunter@windstream.net. I'll put it in the voting column and if no one voted or it wins I'll be more than happy to cover it. Until next week I hope you have a wonderful week and that all the birds you're trying to attract show up in your yard.
5 comments:
What an adorable little bird! I'll have to look closely to see if that's the kind I've had in my yard in recent years.
How very cool that you're expecting babies again this year. Try to capture a photo if you can. Glad you spotted the indigo too. Still trying to figure out what the bird was that we saw in the pond several times. It's similar to a cormorant or black egret, but we don't believe it's either one. Hmmm.
Love ya,
POne
i was wondering if you knew how often the babies are feed wile they are still in the nest and do the parents feed it to then hole?
I am so thrilled to find this site! I've always had a love of birds and tend to draw folks around me into the 'watching nest' as well. I have a pair of wrens at my back door and I have to say that it has been delightful watching them. You can imagine my delight as I hear the peeps of little fledglings when they know food is just beyond the nest wall. The peeps have become less and less and I was worried that they may have passed somehow. As I walked passed the birdhouse, I nonchalantly peeked in and saw that they are covered with feathers and getting much bigger than they were a week ago! I don't think there is anymore room to peep!!
What a beautuful experience you had! I have a nest in my open living room behind a mask I have as decoration of the wall. Fledglings just started flying so wonderfull to see them. I would like to feed them but I was wondering something else than worms, do you have any idea?
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