Wren Nesting In Gourd

by Tena M. Southern
(Huntsville Alabama)

I have had the Carolina wrens nesting in my backyard for several years.

I hung a gourd on the fence near the garden last spring,the gourd was grown by my brother in law and he carved a hole in the front and made tiny holes at the top to insert a wire to hang it.

The wrens made their nest there and I discovered four eggs. I photographed the entire process, the eggs, each birth, and feeding.

I bought mealworms for the parents and they quickly began to feed the small birds.

The thing I found fascinating was watching them feed the mealworms to the young but I noticed that the parents would fly away with the excavation of the young which was white(I learned that it turns into uric acid)

You see, I first thought they were flying away with the egg shell. I assume they remove the material to keep predators away.

To my surprise, one morning I watched the parent feed the young bird a mealworm and the bird actually turned in the nest, stuck its bottom out the hole and the parent removed the material from the birds cavity.

It was fascinating to learn how this process works and to discover that the nest is kept clean in this manner. I did take a picture.

It is amazing what can be learned about the Carolina Wren by taking the time to observe.

I actually got to see them exit the gourd one morning one by one and began their first journey into the world.