In March 2008, at just about the time that my wife was starting to feel embarrassed about the Christmas wreath that had been on our front door for far too long after the holidays, we noticed that some rather cute little birds had started building a nest in the wreath.
Needless to say, once construction was underway, we couldn't move the wreath and for about a month we watched as these fat little birds with distinctive stripes built an impressive little igloo out of all kinds of debris.
To learn more about our new tenants, we did a quick Google search on something like, "brown bird, white stripes," and lo and behold, we found their spitting image: Carolina Wrens! (I didn't take the photo below...this is just so you can see the species.)
They laid four charming little eggs.
We watched them hatch...
The nestlings grew into stout little fluffballs...
And on April 15, 2008, the fledglings left the nest. My wife and I watched as they darted out for the first time, and I am not exaggerating when I say that the first spot on which one of the little guys landed was my wrist -- I was standing away in the driveway, like a proud papa, and it was the first place he/she flew.
So that was 2008. Since then, every year, my wife has tenderly packed away the Christmas wreath, with the igloo nest intact, of course, and every year, we put the wreath back on the front door over the holidays.
There was one year where we excitedly thought the wrens were returning, as we watched them pop in and out of the nest for just a few days...but then...nothing.
So we put the wreath away in Spring 2009, with no wrens...
And we put the wreath away in Spring 2010, with no wrens...
And this year the wrens returned! For the past several weeks, we've watched them bulk up the existing nest with even more leaves, so it now fills half the wreath, and they laid at least four eggs (maybe five...it's been hard to tell.)
Today is the day that all of their fledglings flew the nest--round two!
(Does that make us grandparents? Great-grandparents?) I was sound asleep this morning, happily dozing on a non-workday, when my wife woke me with an excited whisper: "The birds are leaving the nest!" Since the nest is right on the other side of our front door, she noticed that the birds were unusually noisy, and she went to see what the ruckus was all about.
So there we were, my wife and I and our 3 year old son, all sitting on the front sidewalk at a comfortable distance, wearing bathrobes and pajamas, holding our morning coffee, and listening to the fracas as mom and dad coached the little guys from the nest. One by one, they'd pop out, sit on the door mat for a while, looking fat, fluffy and unsure of themselves, and eventually fly short distances.
Even now, several hours later, when I step outside, I can see that the whole family is not scattered too far...they flit about on the side of our house, little birds bopping around, while mom and dad periodically circle back to check on them. I expect that we'll continue to see them in our back yard for several weeks, as they grow bigger and more sure of themselves, as that's what they did in 2008.
So now we have an even bigger igloo nest to pack away tenderly, until it comes out again next year....
Needless to say, once construction was underway, we couldn't move the wreath and for about a month we watched as these fat little birds with distinctive stripes built an impressive little igloo out of all kinds of debris.
To learn more about our new tenants, we did a quick Google search on something like, "brown bird, white stripes," and lo and behold, we found their spitting image: Carolina Wrens! (I didn't take the photo below...this is just so you can see the species.)
They laid four charming little eggs.
We watched them hatch...
The nestlings grew into stout little fluffballs...
And on April 15, 2008, the fledglings left the nest. My wife and I watched as they darted out for the first time, and I am not exaggerating when I say that the first spot on which one of the little guys landed was my wrist -- I was standing away in the driveway, like a proud papa, and it was the first place he/she flew.
So that was 2008. Since then, every year, my wife has tenderly packed away the Christmas wreath, with the igloo nest intact, of course, and every year, we put the wreath back on the front door over the holidays.
There was one year where we excitedly thought the wrens were returning, as we watched them pop in and out of the nest for just a few days...but then...nothing.
So we put the wreath away in Spring 2009, with no wrens...
And we put the wreath away in Spring 2010, with no wrens...
And this year the wrens returned! For the past several weeks, we've watched them bulk up the existing nest with even more leaves, so it now fills half the wreath, and they laid at least four eggs (maybe five...it's been hard to tell.)
Today is the day that all of their fledglings flew the nest--round two!
(Does that make us grandparents? Great-grandparents?) I was sound asleep this morning, happily dozing on a non-workday, when my wife woke me with an excited whisper: "The birds are leaving the nest!" Since the nest is right on the other side of our front door, she noticed that the birds were unusually noisy, and she went to see what the ruckus was all about.So there we were, my wife and I and our 3 year old son, all sitting on the front sidewalk at a comfortable distance, wearing bathrobes and pajamas, holding our morning coffee, and listening to the fracas as mom and dad coached the little guys from the nest. One by one, they'd pop out, sit on the door mat for a while, looking fat, fluffy and unsure of themselves, and eventually fly short distances.
Even now, several hours later, when I step outside, I can see that the whole family is not scattered too far...they flit about on the side of our house, little birds bopping around, while mom and dad periodically circle back to check on them. I expect that we'll continue to see them in our back yard for several weeks, as they grow bigger and more sure of themselves, as that's what they did in 2008.
So now we have an even bigger igloo nest to pack away tenderly, until it comes out again next year....
