[CT Birds] Carolina Wren mis-adventure

[Tammy Eustis]

I've had a few misadventures with adventurous birds as well. Carolina wrens seem to be the most frequent "culprits". I was housesitting for friends in Chester and, at their instruction, left the window to their greenhouse open during the day (it overheats from the sunshine). I arrived back after dark, closed the window, and went to bed. The next morning I heard very loud singing - turns out, a *pair* of Carolinas had flown into the greenhouse at some point and spent the night in the ficus tree! It didn't take them too long to find their way back out, once I opened both the window and the door leading to the outside.
We also get birds in our shed at home (also Chester). Birds treat it as the World's Biggest Roosting Box - ducking under the door at dusk or in bad weather (you can see their little prints in the snow leading up to the shed, then disappearing under the door). I've made a point of checking the shed every morning, because they forget how they got in and beat at the windows instead. Juncos and white-throated sparrows are the most frequent "squatters", although the Carolina wrens - again! - did raise a brood in there a few years ago. That's one way to save money on birdhouses!
- Tammy Eustis, Chester

-----Original Message-----
From: Peregrine Information Consultants [mailto:info at peregrineinfo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 04:41 PM
To: ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] Carolina Wren mis-adventure

On and off during the day, I heard a Carolina Wren calling. It visits our feeders, so I didn't really think about it, except to note how loud and close it seemed. But the feeders are just outside the window, so again, I didn't think about it except to enjoy the cheery sound. Late this afternoon (about 4pm) I realized that the calls were coming from INSIDE our attached garage! I had been in my office all day, which is at the other end of the house and down one flight. I realized that the poor bird must have been in there since about 9 or 10am, when I had left the door open for an hour or so to accommodate the furnace repair people. No food, except for perhaps a few spiders and a little spilled seed. It flew out as soon as I opened the door again, paused to scold me, then away it went into the thickly falling snow. I hope it will have a chance to eat heartily before dark. I am feeling horrible even though it was truly an accident. This little russet bird is one of my favorite feeder visitors - hope it will be OK. I hope that you all can learn from my failure to check the garage before I closed it. :-(

Sarah

Sarah Hager Johnston, BMus, MLS
860-676-2228

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