"Little Mamma's" Nest

by Kelly Marquize
(Pineville, Louisiana USA)

Little Mamma

In the Spring of 2008, I saw some pine straw poking out of the garage door light fixture. I decided to clean it out, so I got the ladder and climbed up to find a nest inside.

There were 4 small eggs! Sadly, they fell to the ground. I wasn't prepared for finding a nest and my reflexes just couldn't stop what gravity had started. At this time, I didn't know what kind of bird the eggs belonged to.

A few short weeks later, I found a second nest. It was right outside my back door on a shelf. This surprised me, because this door is frequently used throughout the day.

It wasn't long before I saw the bird the nest belonged to. I did a search on the internet and found that our new tenant is a Carolina Wren. I quickly became smitten with her and nicknamed her "Little Mamma."

She is by far the sweetest little bird I've ever seen. She seemed quite comfortable with her abode and didn't mind that we were so close. She would often be in the nest when one of us would go out the door.

Most of time, she would fly away and wait until the coast was clear before returning. After a few weeks, her eggs hatched and there were 3 little baby birds now occupying the nest. They were so
cute!

They were only there for about 2 weeks, and then they were gone.

This Spring, Little Mamma has returned to the light fixture. I'm not sure if there are eggs in there yet, but I'm not going to chance opening the fixture.

I would not want a repeat of the last time I did that. Little Mamma and her mate can be seen everyday in our yard and sometimes I catch her coming or going to the nest.

I feel as though she is a part of the family and am so happy that she graced us with her company.