Birds in the 'hood

Wednesday, 3:52 pm

By Kate

May

16

2007

You’re aware that I’ve been lamenting a decline in birds around the neighborhood over the past year. It’s a little better now that some of the summer birds are back, but we still still have a noticeable shortage of blue jays, chickadees, and robins. They are usually as common as flies. Well, I stumbled across an article that may explain some of our bird shortage—West Nile virus decimates suburban birds. Since we live in a mosquito paradise, I really wouldn’t be surprised if this has something to do with it. That’s pretty disturbing.

_________________

Last evening I was delighted to be entertained by a house wren. I haven’t seen one in quite a long while. This little fellow perched on top of the wrought iron hanger from which the hummingbird feeder dangles. He sat there and serenaded all within earshot. It sounded as if he was putting his heart and soul into it, with beak wide open. That suggests that he has a nest nearby. House wrens are particularly verbal when they’re in the business of nesting. The rest of the year, they apparently don’t say much.

Of course, I tried to take a photograph of him. But every time I moved an inch, he flew to the underbrush in the woods and waited for a while. Then he’d come back and sing some more. Until I moved again. Very clever little fellow. He wasn’t into having his portrait taken.

House wrens have kind of an odd build. They are very tiny - less than an index card’s length from head to tip of tail. Where most birds have a discernible neck, wrens seem to scrunch themselves up so that it looks as if they don’t have a neck. Not all the time, but when they’re intent on their singing or just perching, this seems to be the case. I found a neat house wren photograph that illustrates this scrunchy build. I have to say, too, that my wren was a little prettier than this photograph. Slightly lighter and sleeker.

While poking around the ‘net, I also found this YouTube video of a wren building a nest in a bird house. It’s kind of comical in places. But listen to that little guy sing. They have a wonderful song. I’m pleased to see that we have a house wren about the place. They can be territorial and aggressive toward other nesting birds, but I still like them a lot.