Wednesday, June 20, 2012

House Wrens feeding nestlings...

...House Wren babies! A sweet House Wren couple has taken up residence in our yard and is working tirelessly to feed their demanding brood of nestlings. Their nestbox is located in the plum tree in our side yard. We can hear their constant bubbly chatter throughout the house. Earlier in the season, I watched the male bringing little twigs to the nest box regularly and was hopeful a female would choose it as their abode (at the beginning of the nesting season male House Wrens build several nests hoping to catch a female's eye). After a while, I noticed two little House Wrens buzzing around, bringing nesting material to the nest box, and I kept my fingers crossed that the female would lay eggs and they would hatch out...and they did!
 
A video of the House Wrens in our yard bringing insects and spiders home to the nestlings. Every time mama or papa would enter the nestbox, the babies would erupt in frantic chatter, "food, food!"

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
We love listening to their constant chatter and scolding. 

...the parents developed a flight pattern going to and from their "hunting grounds," which are a part of our yard I let go wild. Seems like there are easy "pickins" there, and the wrens preferred the weed patch to any other part of the yard. It's fun to watch them fly into the weed patch, glean an insect, and fly back using the same route to the nest box (calling out the whole time...).  

...such a fierce little House Wren!
Actually...House Wrens really are ferocious fighters. This little male successfully fought off repeated attempts of a House Sparrow to usurp the nestbox, and a little Carolina Chickadee had designs on the digs too, but the House Wren talked him out of it.
 

I hope the little family survives their nestbox time. Raccoons are in our area, and they sometimes raid nestboxes. This one is well protected, hanging from a branch on a tree, but you never know with raccoons...

Update 
Our little wren family survived...the fledglings flew the coop and moved on to the big, wide world!

25 comments:

Olga said...

The last photo is especially nice :)

Olga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ana Mínguez Corella said...

Hi!!!.. Nice picture of this beautiful birds.. Congrat.. Regards from Madrid

Elaine said...

Glad to see they've set up housekeeping. Gorgeous photos!

Janice K said...

From his body language and the look in his eye, it would appear that last little guy was a bit upset with you. However, I know you were probably not close at all. They are such sweet, joyful birds. I used have a birdhouse in our backyard that always had a family living in it; however, in recent years they will start building the nest but then move on. I think it is too close to where my bird feeders are located, and they don't like all the commotion.

Have a great day, Kelly.

Montanagirl said...

They're such sweet little birds! Loved your video!

grammie g said...

Hi Kelly...Dear me that last photo is a riot..LOL!!
Cute video!!
Grace

TexWisGirl said...

so darn cute! and fast and perky! great insect grabbers!

we have more trouble w/ snakes getting into the bird houses here.

Unknown said...

How cool is that! Congrats on the grandkids!

NCmountainwoman said...

I loved the video. Hope the secure little home escapes the curiosity of the raccoons.

Crissa said...

Congratulations! Great news indeed.

aviary

Midmarsh John said...

How lovely to have them nesting so close and great to see the video of the parents bring food for ever hungry youngsters.

Hilary said...

What beautiful photos you've captured of your little guests. I hope the do well. Please keep us posted.

Carol Mattingly said...

Kelly I laughed out loud at that one photo of the house wren looking right at your with the camera. That is hilarious. Carol

Banjo52 said...

I'll read later, but for now let me say AGAIN how great the sharpness of your shots is, as well as the poses you capture. These are just fantastic. You manage to fill the frame without getting blurry, and the results are really compelling.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

How cute, Kelly.. Hope they make it also... We keep getting Wrens trying to build a nest in our garage. We don't want them in there since when we are gone for a few days, that garage can get very very hot --and the wrens would be stuck in there. Scary...

Be sure to check my blog today.. I posted about our Bluebirds.
Hugs,
Betsy

Tammie Lee said...

such excellent photographs Kelly! it really is a wonder and joy to watch nature in all their ways!

holdingmoments said...

They sound just like our Wrens; tough and feisty lol
Lovely captures and great to see the video. Must be a real treat to have them nesting so close to you.

Banjo52 said...

I have a couple of otherwise intelligent friends who aren't interested in birds. What do you suppose is wrong with them?

The constant chatter of some birds . . . and human talkaholics. Why is the one cute and dandy, the other toxic?

Mary said...

Wonderful! Loved the video and photos! I love watching the parents bring all the little bugs home. We have a pair in the gourd in the maple tree, but I haven't gotten any good photos. They are very industrious little birds to watch.

Gillian Olson said...

Really enjoyed the video and pictures of the house wren, that last one is hilarious.

Unknown said...

great treat to pur-rooze your photos !..hope the sneaky coons stay away from the box!

-KAT-

Kelly said...

...thanks, everyone. I'm happy to report the babies fledged. I took these photos about 2 weeks ago before we left on vacation. I posted them while we were on vacation, so I had no idea how the babies were doing. When we got home I found the nest empty, but none of the nesting material had been disturbed. It looked like a successful launch! (And I've seen no raccoons around our yard this summer...)

Kathie Brown said...

Such sweet pictures! I had one stop by my yard earlier in the spring time but it didn't stick around for long! How nice that you got to have this family living nearby!

Guy said...

Hi Kelly

A lovely post the last shot was wonderful.

Regards
Guy