Our Little Wren

by Diane Steere
(Black River Falls, WI 54615)

We have several nesting boxes in our yard for the wrens & this year they chose the one my husband (Dan) built that has a front porch.

We can sit on our front screened in porch & watch the little guy in action. He is definitely a singer & serenades us for as long as we choose to listen.

He busily picks up sticks, mostly under our cedar trees and somehow manages to get even the long ones in the nesting box.

He holds the sticks in his beak & slowly & meticulously works his beak as close to one end as he can, without dropping the stick, until it fits through the hole.

He always finds time to sing & constantly looks around in case a female happens to be in the vicinity.

He scurries around in search of insects, because building a nest is hard work & takes a lot of his energy.

Sometimes the robins that like to build their nests in our vines on the telephone pole, seem to get a little irritated with how happy he is & singing all the time, but he just takes it in stride & continues his quest.

A few years ago, we think it was his first time building a nest, because he was having all kinds of problems, so we helped him out a little & broke up some sticks & placed them in the hole for him.

He seemed to appreciate it & went in the nesting box, was there for awhile, came out sang for awhile & then continued placing sticks in the hole.

A female finally came checked out the nesting box and must have liked it, because they raised a family & we were fortunate to watch the little ones leave the nest that year. What a sight!

We have just the right combination in our yard to attract many birds---shrubs, lots of different trees (including a small grove of cedar trees), bird feeders, bird baths, rock garden (which they love) & many different bird houses.

We feed the birds all year long & patiently wait for the arrival of the ones that leave in the winter.

We love all our birds, but especially our little wrens. People who don't watch & appreciate the birds are really missing a lot.