Attracting the House Wren can be as easy as adding a wren house specifically built for them.
Their nesting and feeding habits are easily observed, as these birds tend to be somewhat tolerant of humans.
Relentlessly searching for insects during the nesting phase, House Wrens can be an asset to the backyard gardener.
House Wren Description
Unlike many others, these birds do not have brightly colored
feathers.
Measuring 5 inches long with a plump body and a short tail.
The upperparts are unstreaked and grayish brown while the underparts are grayish white.
This bird has no prominent field marks.
If you spend any time at all watching these birds, you'll easily know the extent of its territory.
The male usually has three prominent perches from which he defends his territory of 1/2 - 3/4 acres.
Mating Habits
In spring, the male wren arrives and begins to establish his territory. You'll know he has arrived when you begin hearing him sing from his perches.
As you watch, you'll notice he begins placing sticks into prospective nest holes. He may build as many as twelve different nesting sites.
After pairing with a mate, the male takes the female to each of the nesting sites he has begun building.
The female selects the one she likes and begins to rebuild by adding soft materials to the nest before laying eggs.
House wrens are cavity nesters and as such, are an ideal candidate for attracting to birdhouses. In fact, these birds seem to prefer man-made nest boxes to natural cavities.
Nesting Habits
The nesting site can be located anywhere from 4-30 ft. above
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Wrens nest in some funny and strange places. Do you have a story and picture about Wrens nesting around your home? Why not Share it With Our Visitors. Got pictures? We Love Pics - To share your story or read what others have said Click Here
ground. After choosing and rebuilding the nest, the female will lay 5-6 eggs that are white with brown marks.
Incubation time last 12-15 days and the young will leave the nest in 16-17 days.
For their size, these birds can be very aggressive, often piercing other cavity nesting birds eggs.
The male will bring food to the female while she incubates the eggs. The House Wrens diet consist almost entirely of insects.
Rarely bothered by general human presence, if the bird watcher gets to close to the nest, she stands a good chance at being scolded.
Welcome this little bird to your yard and garden by placing several houses around your property.
Even if you have a small yard you can place more than one house, consider one in the front yard and one in the back yard
Wrens will generally attempt to raise two broods a season.
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Wren in Wreath
A few weeks ago I walked past the grape vine wreath covered with silk hydrangeas I hung next to our front door and noticed things weren't the same as usual....
Wrens On Myy Porch
I grew birdhouse gourds last summer an have been very lax about completing my projects. Some are already painted, some only cleaned out, some still hanging ...
Is There Hope
This year, I was blessed with a mama wren and 4 babies in my pot of sweet potatoe vines and wavy petunias on the rail of my deck!
We have mini weenies ...
Wren Nest in Upright Bottle
I used a large plastic bottle to fill my birdfeeders this winter. I left it by the back door which is under a wide awning.
I noticed something in the ...
Wren Box On Deck
We live in eastern NC. in a rural area & watched as the adult wrens built nest in box, and then as food was brought to the babies.
My husband and I ...
Wren Eating Suet
This little Wren comes by my window daily to eat the suet I have hanging there. It sings so pretty and pecks on my window thinking it see's another Wren ...
Carolina Wren On My Mind
Behind my house, within view of my bedroom window is a plastic trash bin where my children store wiffle ball bats & pool noodles, and other such items....
Wren Close To Home
Last spring we heard a new song in the backyard and eventually saw the tiny bird who was producing it, a male house wren who I mistook for a female since ...
More Babies Yippee
Two years ago a little married couple of wrens built a nest in my hanging planter among the impatiens.
Each day I would look into the nest and to my ...
Wrens Nest Damaged
We have a wren who has built onto a swallows nest from last year, either male or female has been sitting low inside the nest and peeping out.
Tonight ...
Housecleaning Wren
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A house wren is cleaning out debris from a used birdhouse.
Bit by bit the remains of an old nest and an old wasp nest is being removed from the little ...
Wren Nesting in Nostril
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We have a bird house hanging from our back deck. It is the face of, I would say troll with large nostril openings.
It has been entertaining watching ...
Nesting Inside The Garage
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Several days I watched a male & Female coming to the door of our garage with what I thought to be insects in their bills.
The birds sat on the fence ...
Wren in Decorative Birdhouse
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Last year we had a pair of wrens for the first time, stealing green garden twine I had placed in a grapevine wreath. We had a horrific wind and the nest ...
Nesting in the Chimenea
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My Wife and I moved into an apartment while we are having a new home built, we have had bird feeders before, but are not avid birders.
We have a small ...
Wren Nesting in Chair
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We live in a house that sits high in the trees, so we get bird activity close to the house on a regular basis, but this is a bit too much! :)
Since ...
Wren In Bedroom Window
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My friend and I found a wren nest in his bedroom window, in the corner of the ledge, between the glass and the screen.
It turned out that the bird could ...
Wrens Return 2nd Year
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We have a covered patio that is inset into our house on the back side, which we have crammed full of patio furniture, refrigerator, and toys (3 young kids)...
Wren In Flower Pot
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My granddaughter found 4 beautiful, tiny birds in a flower pot we had put in a wire basket about 5 feet high on our back porch wall.
They are just born ...
Wren Interesting Nesting Choice
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I first noticed this bird in May, by the short aggressive calls that were very loud from such a small bird.
I figured the bird was looking for a mate....
Wren Nesting In Chair
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The wren family built a nest in a folding chair on my carport.
When the chair is in folded position it provides cone shaped fabric cups that are ideal ...
Strange Nesting Place
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We've seen one or more Carolina Wrens around our yard for the past three years or so, even though we're pretty far North for them.
I think that they ...
Nest In Fan Exhaust
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Every year we have wrens that nest in an old bathroom fan exhaust on the side of our house. It's in the perfect location for our two indoor cats to watch ...
Wren Nesting In Hanging Basket
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We have a wren nesting in our large hanging basket. I have just seen the first baby emerge clinging to the wall as it made it's way up.
Mum/Dad sitting ...
Nesting In Tool Box
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The wren family occupied a little rectangular tool box filled with garden tools on my second floor deck.
The activity was incredibly busy all day long,...
Carolina Wren Nesting In Chimenea
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We have a cabin just south of Woodsfield, Ohio and were delightfully surprised when we went to do our first mowing for the season to find that we had a ...
Wrens In Bar-B-Que
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From my kitchen window I can see my back deck and a few weeks ago I watched a bird bringing what I thought looked like pretty big sticks into a hole in ...
Wren Nesting In Wash Bucket
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This spring I saw a pair of wrens bringing oak leaves and long grasses to my deck in rural East Tennessee.
After pairing with a mate, the male takes the female to each of the nesting sites he has begun building.
