Commuter Babies

At this time of year, backyard birdwatchers are full of stories about the birds which are nesting in their yard. A few months back I featured Louise Grider in one of my articles here. Louise, or Lulu, is a wildlife rehabilitator in Alabama. This week she had a great story to share with her birdwatching friends.

Carolina wrens are common in the south and east, where they are year-round residents and are loved for their musical song. Pairs are believed to mate for life, sometimes singing "duets," and they are well-known for their oddball choices in nest sites. They've been known to nest in floral wreaths hung on doors, in hanging baskets, and outdoor BBQ grills. The nests are a mass of twigs, leaves and weeds, with a lining of softer material such as moss, grass, animal hair or feathers, and sometimes even a bit of snakeskin. Although both the male and the female will help build the nest, the 12-15 day incubation of the eggs is done by the female only.

In Lulu's yard, there are four pairs of wrens: one pair has built a nest in a wren house purchased from Wal-Mart, one pair built a nest in a discarded flower pot, one pair built a nest in a purple martin house, and one pair built a nest on the mount that holds the spare tire for her Isuzu Trooper. Lulu teaches classes at Troy State University three times a week, and she drives her Trooper 50 miles round trip to get there and back. She didn't know the nest was there until the chicks hatched, and they wouldn't have hatched if the nest had been abandoned by the mother, so she surmises that mother wren, nest, and eggs made the 50 mile commute with her.

When the chicks hatched, and the mother wren did not follow Lulu to school, Lulu took on the responsibility of feeding the chicks, in the nest, between classes. When she got home, the mother wren would take over again. Last Friday Lulu reported that "their" babies were progressing very nicely on this schedule, feathering out nicely, but she was worried about what would happen if the babies fledged while she was in classes and the nest was away from the parent wrens, who would be needed to care for the birds when they left the nest. Fledging usually happens 12-14 days after hatching. The nest is a typical wren-design, a long tunnel and then a cavity with the babies, and she didn't feel it would be safe to move it from the car. Should she leave the Trooper home and borrow a car until the babies fledged? That seemed to be the only option.

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