Wrens In a Basket

by Linda Nuttall
(East Lansing MI)

I was working in the garage a couple weeks ago when I saw a bird fly in the back door. This is not so unusual, as we feed birds in the backyard and have many, many birds out there.

But it meant putting the dog in the house, opening the garage door and waiting for the little fellow to make his or her way out. I took all the precautions and waited a bit. Nothing happened.

I started to look around for the bird. This is a project because our garage is half recycle-center, half warehouse. It has no intention of housing cars.

On a broom-handle randomly stuck with nails hanging from the garage ceiling, I keep a variety of baskets. The top basket looked suspiciously messy, not the way I recalled leaving it.

As I lifted the handle a bit, out flew a small bird, whizzing past my head! She did, thankfully, fly straight out the back door.

I took down the pole and found the rectangle basket was half full of grasses, fine twigs and other assorted bird nest stuff. Inside that was hollowed out a lovely small nest.

I saw that at least 3 white and dark speckled eggs had already been laid in the nest. Now I had a quandary. The door to the backyard is closed overnight.

I have no idea how things got to the stage we were at, but they obviously could not continue.

What if I shut the door and Mrs. Bird was NOT on her nest? And if the babies were hatched and fledged somehow in the garage, my marauding cat-hunter was going to view this as a wind-fall snack moment(literally).

I carefully removed that basket from its nail without disturbing the contents, and headed out back. I didn't want to go far because I did not know what would lead a mother bird to her nest if moved.

Luckily, I discovered a hook left from Christmas lights near the top of the back door. Perfect. It is under our overhang, in the flight path of the original location, and best of all, still somewhere we can watch.

And the babies stand a better chance fledging in the backyard with their natural environment rather than on top of foam, corrugated cardboard and office paper recycle containers.

I've worried that the parents were not on the nest, only to be buzzed by them as I tried to look in the nest with a mirror.

I may or may not have pictures of this one!