I cleaned out the House Wren birdhouse last week to prepare for their arrival this week. This morning a single male could be heard in the bushes out back singing away. More about the singing of House Wrens here. He soon got busy adding new twigs to the house in preparation for arrival of the females. He must do a good job in order to attract a female.
Most of the twigs were small and fit easily into the small hole. But, now and then he brought one up that was awkward like this one. He tried several different approaches, first one end then the other.
This stick got the best of him. He seemed quite frustrated with it. Persistence paid off in the end.
These tiny birds are really busy non-stop. They forage for food. They sing loudly. They are very aggressive toward other birds much larger if they need to be. They scold us at times. Cats are a mortal enemy. No cat can hide in our bushes for long without being found out.
They need lots of energy per unit of volume for their size. It is a concept called surface-to-volume ratio. Here is a link to one of my more popular posts on that topic.
Reblogged this on How I See It and commented:
We have company.
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Your mention of a wren reminded me of this ditty by Edward Lear:
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.
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Good to have them back, the noisy little things. Next, the catbird!
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What great photos of the little guy!
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Thank you. I was able to see out the window and not scare him off. We are glad he is back. Soon there will be two.
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Three years in a row, there was a pair of wrens who nested in a galvanized bucket next to the hill country cabin door. The first year, they had babies before we noticed them. The next year, we looked, and caught them building it. The third year we missed the building and the babies, but we certainly did enjoy the singing.
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They will wait for no one. 🙂
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These are great photos. I really enjoy the morning wakeup calls and watching their perky movements. Getting a stick into a round hole is sometimes a very difficult geometry problem.
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Thanks. They are out there now singing in the sunshine. 🙂
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