April is about to begin, which means that, here in the southeastern U.S., most of the year-round resident species—including phoebes, cardinals, Carolina Wrens, and bluebirds—have probably started nesting. Several of these common, resident birds spend a lot of time around human habitation, so if you live in this region of the country, you may have noticed lots of interesting behaviors over the last month or so.
In the spring and summer, Carolina Wrens will often build their small, domed nests in garages, outdoor furniture, or potted plants. Here's a photo of a nest from several years ago. As you can see, the wren parents used grasses, oak blossoms, mosses, leaves, and string in the outer layer.
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| Carolina Wren eggs |
Finer grasses and various bits of fuzz—feathers and possibly fur—lined the nest, and, as the photo shows, the female wren laid five eggs. This is normal for Carolina Wrens, which lay anywhere from three to seven. The female wren incubated the eggs for several days.
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| Incubating |
Wren nests are a familiar sight for me, and, apart from peeking into the nests every now and then during the roughly month-long process from incubation to fledging, I never really do anything that could disturb them.
For one thing, it’s generally illegal to disturb or damage the eggs and young of wild birds, and for another, I figure that interfering with nature is usually unwarranted.
The main exception I will make is for species that are endangered, or just generally imperiled.
Carolina Wrens, though?
Thankfully, they seem to be doing just fine.
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| The empty nest |
The
species is doing just fine, that is.
Unfortunately, these particular individuals had their nest raided by some sort of predator before the eggs could hatch.
Maybe a snake?
Several nonvenomous species, including gray ratsnakes, black racers, and speckled kingsnakes, are common in the Southeast.
I do not endorse killing snakes, by the way; they have a right to be here, and the benefits that they provide (e.g., rodent control) far outweigh any damage that they occasionally do to the birds that people love to watch.
Below is a picture of a large gray ratsnake that had taken up residence in the garage a couple of years before.
A raccoon is another possibility; although you may not often see them, they are extremely common in wooded areas, and their opportunistic feeding habits make them remarkably persistent.
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| Gray ratsnake |
It was bad luck for the Carolina Wrens, but there's usually a chance for a second brood, at least.
On a lighter note, even though the wrens failed, the Eastern Phoebes that year successfully raised at least three young over the garage entrance. Phoebes typically don’t build low to the ground, so unless you bring out a ladder, you’re probably going to have a hard time looking into their nests. Until they hatch and the young birds are large enough to stick their heads over the edge, I usually have no idea how many eggs there are. The brood sizes of phoebes can vary fairly widely—from two to six. Like Carolina Wrens, phoebes easily acclimate to human activity; as long as you leave them alone, they will nest year after year in the same spot on a ledge, over a porch, or under an eave or a bridge.
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| The phoebes' nest |
The phoebe nestlings in the garage nest grew rapidly, and eventually the concrete below became coated with bird droppings—yuck.
I expected the birds to fledge a day or two before they finally did; they had been looking very large and mature, but they weren’t finished developing yet.
On the day that they
did wind up leaving, I was standing at one side of the garage entrance and peering at them through my binoculars.
My presence apparently agitated them, because they all blasted out of the nest at once and flew strongly to the row of hardwood trees lining the driveway.
Clearly, they were ready!
For many other bird species, however, the season was just getting started.
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| Phoebe nestlings |
