Tiny Lessons

It's a tiny bird, the Carolina Wren. If you followed the story of my front porch wrens last Spring, and the window box wrens of the previous year, you will not be surprised to know they are back. They really never left, sleeping each Winter night in the hanging ferns on the porch, which we didn't have the heart to remove although shrivelled, brown and quite dead. As the warmer days appeared they left the baskets to sleep elsewhere, but they were always singing at the top of their minuscule lungs.......some place in the garden.

These pictures with the trees dressed in Spring green were taken in the garden last year.

Above is one of the same pair taken in my kitchen window box a few days ago (through the window screen so a bit blurry). Together with its mate, the pair spent several hours flying back and forth, twig, skeleton oak leaf, fine twirly dried root, each held tightly and placed securely into a tiny space nestled between a mini conifer and yellow pansies. By mid-afternoon, the nest looked almost complete. What busy and brave little birds. To build a safe home to raise their family took planning and a lot of work. They didn't need a mansion, nothing fancy to show off to the neighbors, just a small warm house to nest in, safe and sound.

If all works according to plan, I'll be telling you about tiny eggs, loving parents, the amazing cleanliness of a wren's nest, and that thrilling, but somewhat sad, sunny Spring morning when fledglings leave.