I put ice cubes in the hummingbird feeder!
Why?
When I was cleaning it, the nectar I poured out was really hot and I figured it just might burn those tiny hummingbird tongues.
Can’t have that!
Speaking of birds, we have had fun with a pair of Carolina wrens this summer. They are very noisy, very friendly, active, and messy little birds. We like them a lot and have encouraged them to nest in our YARD with two very nice bird houses …
but one very determined pair had other ideas. They seemed to want to be near us. In our sunroom, to be exact. Over a couple days we removed several nest starts, hoping to encourage them to build elsewhere. Then one afternoon we came home to …
a done deal!
I didn’t get a picture, but there was a jacket slung over my bike handlebars and tucked inside it was a completed nest. Inside the nest were …
Yes, four little spotted eggs, each the size of my fingernail!
They had us! It was too late take it down this time.
What to do?
I carefully removed the very sloppy, loosely constructed nest from the jacket and placed it in a small wicker basket I hung on my handlebars. We were surprised when mama wren came right back to the nest as if nothing had changed and settled in. From then on we gave over all use of the sunroom to the wrens and had to leave all four sliding glass doors open night and day.
We have to walk through the sunroom a dozen times a day to get in and out of the house but it didn’t seem to faze the wren parents in the least. In 13 days the eggs hatched.
Feathers grew.
Then one morning 12 days later we came out and the babies were gone. They had somehow made their way out of the nest, out of the sunroom doors, and were hanging out in the azalea bushes, being shepherded and fed by their excited parents.
Carolina wrens are monogamous, mate for life, and raise up to three broods a year. Ours have apparently sought a change of scenery for their next family. We miss them but we are glad to have our sunroom back.
Nice of to to share your sunroom! Stay cool!!
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy hot and humid here too. Well, we got a little break from the heat yesterday after the storms brought a cold front through. Heat is on its way back. Little Wrens are so cute! Once they make up their mind to build there is no changing it. :) I posted about a nest of babies on our front porch. We have watched them so carefully, but got up Saturday morning and and found them gone. One dead in the nest, one dead on the ground, and one missing. We have both been so sad. My heart actually hurt for those babies and hard working little mama and daddy.
ReplyDeleteAmazing story. I'm so glad you got all the pictures.
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful drawing. Thank goodness we live on the side of a mountain so we get some cool winds blowing down to us. That is an amazing story about your Carolina wrens. I don't think I've ever seen one.
ReplyDeleteGood thinking with the ice. Lots of weather warnings here as temperatures rise towards 40 deg C this week. As you know our homes don't have air conditioning so it's going to be a very uncomfortable summer for us if these high temps continue. Inconvenient but still exciting to have those wrens nesting where you can watch then hatch.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you, Cynthia, for your care of the birds. We keep our hummingbird feeder well shaded by a Sugar Maple to avoid the overheating problem you mention, but we still keep a close eye on it. Of late we have to bring it in at night since a raccoon or a possum has developed a sweet tooth and we find the feeder on the ground the next morning if we forget. Congratulations on becoming surrogate parents to the Carolina Wrens, although I can quite understand that you were happy when they moved on for their next bout of parenthood!
ReplyDeleteA great story of wily wrens! Glad they cleared out after hatching and learning to fly.
ReplyDeleteGreat description of the stages in the wren nesting.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful - the photos are lovely too..
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful story - and with pictures as well. Nature has its own rules and man sometimes just gets in the way - but not this time. Good Job!! Elaine at http://mynext20yearsofliving.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing story.
ReplyDeleteDear Cynthia, I just loved---LOVED!!!!!!--this story. You ought to write it up for the newspaper and then write it as a children's book and if no publisher is interested, you could do a simple folded paper book and donate it to the grade schools in your area. I suspect--well, I think I know--that children would love this story and so relate to it. Find a way to get this story beyond your blog. It deserves to be read by many and you have such appealing photographs with which to carry the story's plot along. I so encourage you to do this.Peace. Dee Ready (I'm signing my name because I'm not sure of Google. Also, I want to thank you for your comment on my most recent posting--about Arthur and the tattoo. I'm unable to respond to comments on my blog because of Google, but I so appreciate your words. Much peace to you and any Carolina wrens who stop and visit you and/or your sunroom!)
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