Eventually though, the female found the worms, but instead of eating them, she flew away with a mouthful, indicating that she had hungry mouths to feed. (Most people use mealworms to feed bluebirds, but in my yard, bluebirds are only a myth.) The worms attracted lots of birds (catbirds, cardinals, chickadees), but no wrens (or bluebirds). To lure them in, I put out a small tray of mealworms. On the contrary, I was more obsessed with them than ever. I wasn’t done watching the wrens, however. Although, I don’t think the male believed me since he kept yelling, which he probably would have done anyhow. I apologized to her and promised never to go near her nest again.

Bingo! A rather irate female wren flew out. Finally, I took a long stick and tapped the side of the box. I hated to be such a nosy landlord, but for the sake of my birdhouse study (and this column), I needed to know if the box was occupied. I next tried to spook the bird by whistling, clamping my hands and yelling, “ding-dong!” as if I was selling Avon, but there were no signs of life in the box. I even moved directly under the box and still saw nothing. I spent a fair amount of time watching, but saw no activity. Even though I never saw him go into the box or even gather nesting material, his endless chatter convinced me that his mate was sitting on eggs. Each day, from sunup ‘til sundown, the male sat on my porch railing and yelled his signature song, nonstop. Weighing less than 3/4 of an ounce, he has the vocal impact of Bernie Sanders…with a megaphone. In addition, the male Carolina Wren has one of the biggest mouths in the animal kingdom. The Carolina Wren has a brown back, a buffy belly and a significant white stripe above each eye. We have the House Wren, which is brown, and that’s all. I put the ladder away.Ĭape Cod has two species of “backyard” wrens. He cautioned me that the fast-flying brown birds might also be wrens. But just as I was getting ready to climb the ladder, Casey told me to hold on. Grrr! It was time for the box to come down for real this time. This spring, Casey told me that the sparrows were back. Two years later, the box is still in place.

(My wife just loved the way it looked…not.) The plan was to eventually remove the box, but if there is something I’m good at, it’s procrastinating. In order to keep the sparrows from completing their nest, I blocked the entrance slot with a balled-up clump of aluminum foil. Some people (Brits) might have been okay with this, but the invasive House Sparrows are a huge problem for many of our native birds. Unfortunately, instead of wrens, my test box attracted House Sparrows. I didn’t have to wait very long, because birds immediately began using it. Once completed, I put one of the boxes under an overhang above my backdoor (as wrens like to be hidden), and waited. For the sake of science (and sales), I decided to ask my birdhouse guy (yes, I have one of those) to build a few of them. The birds entered via a slot near the top, like books through a library drop box.

The box wasn’t anything special, except there was no round hole. But a few years ago, I found plans specifically for a Carolina Wren birdhouse. For some reason, those customary round entrance holes don’t appeal to them. Unlike House Wrens, Carolina Wrens typically don’t use traditional birdhouses. Bird Watcher's General Store Bird Watcher's General Store What Carolina Wrens Like For a

Wren house plans