Since we lost two 50-year-old tulip poplars not long ago, I happened to look out my living room window to check the yard just as a major storm was approaching, and I saw something strange on the doorstep of the birdhouse that the chickadees had been visiting. Did they get a delivery that they had not noticed? I had not heard the UPS truck. (This is not a great photo as I was hurrying to miss the rain.)
I remained on the porch and decided to watch just a little longer and what did I see?
(We had a tornado warning beeping on the radio as a distraction, so you will forgive my blurry shots.) Here is a wren peaking out of the door and throwing a beak full of the stuff to the ground. This was a deranged Heloise or perhaps that nasty noisy neighbor in Bewitched. As I watched she continued to fling more grasses through the hole and threw them high into the air with a twist of her head. She did not become discouraged that the wind blew them back into her face and over the top of the roof. Was chickadee interior design so bad? Was it a feng shui issue? Did it have bed bugs? Clearly in a big re-decorating mode, this Martha Stewart wren hopped up and began to clear off the roof as well! She WAS a bird on a mission!
I am not so amazed that she has thrown out the chickadee nest that I say them create just this spring and which perhaps they had abandoned ( I do not watch my neighbors that closely because I do have a life.), but more amazed that she is ACTUALLY using a bird house. In the past, as you may recall, my resident wrens behave like hippies and have used nail buckets, canoe bows, the end of the gutters and folded down lawn cushions, but never one of my bird houses! This should be interesting!
wow very cool...will be nice to watch and see what they get into...
ReplyDeleteObviously, she has been watching too much HGTV!
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Well, you're supposed to clean the birdhouses each year, so perhaps since the lazy two-legged creatures didn't do it, the two-winged will!! LOL!
ReplyDeleteAmazing, that is new to me.
ReplyDeleteThat's a bird on a mission. Funny to see it finally use the house. Is it a stray data point or a new trend? Only time will tell!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots. That must have been fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteLynilu...it was a new nest as we had cleaned out all the bird houses. This nest had been created by the chickadees this spring.
ReplyDeleteCute! We had wrens nesting in our grill a few years ago. It has a hole in the side of the lid for a rotisserie; must have looked just like a giant birdhouse.
ReplyDeletehow cute! i like the way you made a story out of your pictures. :)
ReplyDeleteSo the new neighbour had a big clean out huh? We have struck houses like that when selling and buying - getting a house left in a mess which we had to clean up. I can understand your birdie's reasons - Dave
ReplyDeletelast spring the wrens built a nest in the garage in the rag bag hanging on a nail by the door into the house. it was not successful as a competing male destroyed the eggs. this year they built their nest on top of the motor housing for the (broken) garage door opener. they raised one chick and I still see and hear it around the house following mom and dad saying feed me!
ReplyDeleteHad to chuckle at your description of wrens exhibiting hippie behaviour. I've never seen a wren use a bird house either though I've had them nesting in my clothespin bag and once found a nest in the innards of an abandoned tractor - wrens are such determined little birds. Wonder if this one will stay put...
ReplyDeleteFun story, Tabor! Maybe cleaning out to prevent passing on diseases is hard-wired into their little Wren brains? Chickadees have cooties?
ReplyDeleteI used everything from jets of water to crochet hooks, trying to get one of those decorative molded birdhouses emptied. Nothing worked so I hung it back up. Some bird picked out every bit of old nest, but then decided not to build a new one.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose