Empty Nesters.......

Yesterday afternoon and evening, up until dusk, Mr. & Mrs. Wren kept up a steady supply of food and vocal instruction....................a sure sign that it was time for the babes to get ready to fly........or at least flutter.......from that planter by the front door! I spent several hours at the dining room window and even seated on the porch for a while, armed with the camera, wishing I had a better one with a good lens, and no glass in my windows! By nightfall I had decided those babes were definitely going to fledge this morning - they were sticking way out of the nest when the parents flew in with bugs and seeds from the feeder hanging out front.

Pictures below taken as they flew back and forth continuously for hours yesterday...................parenting skills of the highest order, a mom and dad so caring of their young. Sometimes he would just sit on a branch and keep watch, singing jubilantly for fifteen minutes, as she gathered food from the lawn and walkway, bringing it to the nest overflowing with cheeping babes. Then he would go to the feeder, pick a tiny seed and bring it over. Needless to say I didn't get much done yesterday, other than watch 'my little family'. I'm such a softy when it comes to birds in my garden.

I set the alarm clock for 6:15 AM because I know the wren babies fledge early in the day. A perfect morning for flight - brilliant sunshine, warm and calm. Coffee in hand, I sat at the dining room window and by 6:30 AM breakfast service began along with much calling, singing and chirping. Then, while dad sat on his same branch calling, mom sat above the nest on the flag pole and proceeded to fluff and preen her feathers, almost as if giving the babes their first lesson in personal hygiene, and perhaps showing them how to prepare for flight. At 7:00 AM number one fluttered out of the nest directly into the hydrangea bush below the porch rail - that's when I called for dh to hurry. Then number two popped out onto the cushion of a wicker chair, down to the porch and into the same bush. Number three gave us a scare, fluttered into the water filled fountain but immediately hopped out and joined the others - I was ready to run out to perform a rescue thinking it would drown. Then four followed into the bush..........................and there was no five unless we missed it, the whole process took less than a minute, when they go they go fast.

One by one the babies then followed the parents across the front steps, through another flower bed and here I leaned out of my bedroom window and managed to snap these somewhat fuzzy pics of some of the babes. Wren babes have little stubby tails which grow into those cute long perky ones.

Above, two babes following their parents to a safe place. Below, the last one, "hurry up, they're waiting for you".

Here it is now 9:00AM and I hear and see the parents in my side garden, singing instructions and teaching life's little lessons. The cheeping babes are audible however I can't see them and don't want to go outside and disturb this lovely moment Nature has allowed me to share.

I'm now an empty nester again. We can come and go through the front door.........and let the storm door slam! Today I can take back the porch.......clean it up for Spring.......have a cup of afternoon tea out there.......go shopping for Boston ferns to fill the empty hanging baskets........and pray that this new little family will survive to grow into adorable wrens, the tiny, cute, perky birds with the amazing big voices.