"On The Wing"

               By: Jill Dinsmore     

 

             “The Land of Nursery Rhymes”  

  

            January Brings the Snow

                 Makes our feet and fingers glow      

              

          

            It’s a cold, damp, dark, and dreary morning - the kind of day that begs for a good book by the fire.  But, chores have to be done and doing the washing up is one of them, so here I am looking out of the window and there on the window sill is a Carolina Wren!  What a thrill, the day instantly got better! 

 

                       

  

The largest of all wrens, the size of a small sparrow, it is also the reddest, buff    underside,  distinctive white eye stripe, dark barring on its rust colored  wings –  tail held upwards.

 This wren prefers brushy undergrowth and tangled bushes, which is probably why we see them at the end of the garden in the nut bushes and close to the neighbors forsythia and wild rose bushes and around the usual garden props. Tomato cages, stakes, brush for staking, etc. the compost pile and a wall of rocks from the garden.

 

                                             

 

   This little bird is very active, tho its disposition is retiring and somewhat aloof.  Its nest is shaped like a dome cup with side entrance, usually well concealed, and found in old stumps, holes, hollow trees, rock crevices and we even saw one at a Brown county shop in a motorcycle helmet!  They are made mostly of leaves, grasses, bark, hair, paper, plastic, string, and lined with feathers or other soft material, and are quite large.  From 4 – 7 creamy white eggs with fine brown spots are laid per clutch.  Incubation is about 13 days and they may have two broods a year. Because of increasing winter temperatures, the Carolina Wren stays in Indiana all year. A breeding pair feed mostly on insects and grubs and bond for life. Both male and female look alike with the male being slightly larger.