Carolina Wren Nest

A while back I wrote a post for The Vault about the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus). For the last few weeks, I've been observing a pair of wrens who built a nest in my mom's artificial flower arrangement which hangs on the wall of our front porch. Carolina Wrens are monogamous; a breeding pair may remain together for years. They stay in the male's territory all year, raising multiple broods. Once the female selects a nesting site, the male helps her build the nest, which in this case resembles a bowl lying on its side. Our wrens dug into the styrofoam base of the flowers, casting pellets everywhere. You can see they used several different materials, including twigs, grass, fir branches, styrofoam, leaves, and paper. There may even be some Sheltie fur in there somewhere!

You might be wondering why the nest is so clean. I mean, where are all the droppings from the chicks? Well, this is why:

"Daddy, I hafta go potty!"
"All right, well, lift up your tail then."

"That's a good boy!"

*sigh* "Why did I want kids again?"

The female laid four eggs and incubated them for a couple weeks while the male brought her food. When they hatched, both parents fed them for another two weeks. And during that time, boy were they protective! I watched one parent chase a poor chipmunk right into a bush. Those wrens sang their little hearts out too. Sometimes they wouldn't let us pass by the nest until the babies were fed, and they fussed if we got too close.

You can read more about the nesting behavior of the Carolina Wren here:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/nestinginfo/bios/sp_accts/cawr#Nesting
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/carolina_wren/lifehistory#at_nesting
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/carolina_wren.htm
http://www.sialis.org/nestscarolinawren.htm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/carolina-wren/