If you want a delightful serenade, go outside one morning right after sunup, and if there is a Carolina Wren anywhere in the area, you’ll get the serenade of a lifetime. These little fellows love to sing.
I have two types of wrens in my backyard – the House Wren and the Carolina Wren. I saw my little Carolina Wren at the feeder yesterday afternoon and heard him singing when I went to retrieve this morning’s paper.
It is said that Carolina Wrens have quite a repertoire of songs. They can deliver over 40 arias, each as beautiful as the next. What they lack in size, they deliver in volume. They are the Ethel Merman’s of the bird world.
I’m not sure we had any Carolina Wrens around last summer, most were House Wrens. The Carolina Wrens are quite distinct in appearance with an orange-yellow belly and a prominent white stripe along the sides of their heads. The House Wrens are sorta’ “Plain-Jane”, tannish brown with no distinctive markings. Both wrens have upturned tails.
Neither of the wren species is particular about nesting sights. If it’s empty, they will build a nest inside it. Sometimes when I’m working in the yard and leave the shed door open, a wren will fly in and begin building a nest in a water pail or empty pot, then I have to shoo him away. Males like to build hastily constructed “Kamikaze” nests and as many as possible, hoping a willing female finds one acceptable. Then, as ladies often do, she will deconstruct his nest and build one to her more rigid specifications.
I once spent a late afternoon on my front porch with a Carolina Wren. It was raining and I was sitting on the rocking chair with a fresh cigar, enjoying the pitter-patter of the raindrops when the wren flew in, under the cover of the porch. At first I thought he was simply escaping the rainfall, but it turned out he was looking for a bite of dinner. He inspected every nook and cranny on the porch, scarcely paying me any mind. He was searching for his favorite meal – spiders. He poked along each and every crevice and behind the porch light – sometimes upright, sometimes he was upside down. He climbed along the corners of the porch and the roofline. I saw him gobble down a few bugs, so I assumed our porch had a few less spiders. Then he sang a little song and flew away.
There is a wonderful world of beauty and nature awaiting us on our porches and in our back yards – if we just pay attention.