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A Wren's Tale

© Terrie Murray

In my last column I shared the story of my friend Vicky and the sparrow she tried to nurse back to health. In spite of her efforts, the sparrow died. Since then, as often happens at this time of year, I've gotten several emergency messages asking what to do with everything from abandoned and frightened baby rabbits to the always inevitable "I found a baby bird on the ground -- now what?" dilemma.

My first words of advice are always, always to find a qualified wildlife rehabilitator in your area and keep their number handy for these sorts of emergencies. They can tell you when intervention is warranted, and they can tell you when the best decision is to keep your distance. However, even when you do everything right, when you invite nature into your yard you're going to witness death. That's what happened with Anne, who shared her touching story about crows in a discussion following my article about Vicky's sparrow. That's also what happened to my friend Samantha. The following is her note, and my response. Sharing stories like this is what the Backyard Birdwatching Almanac is all about. Thanks, Samantha, for letting me share yours.

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A pair of wrens are building again in my birdhouse on my front deck. For days they've worked, flown in and flown out. A little while ago I went outside to pick up my newspaper and one of the wrens was on the grass, dead. I don't know if it was the male or female. What do birds do during the nesting time, if one of them die? Does the remaining bird abandon the nest, or continue on, provided it is the female I'm sure the eggs have been fertilized. I was so upset! I've watched the little house but haven't seen any sign of life. I can't imagine what could have happened to the little bird. There are no cats anywhere near my front deck. Perhaps the storm, such as it was, the other night had something to do with it.

It hurts when death touches us so closely, perhaps even more so when the death is to something as innocent and lovely as a wren -- or a bunny baby. Unfortunately, there's no way for you to know what caused the death, but it is almost certain that it's nothing that you did wrong or had any control over. Can you still hear a wren singing in your yard? If so, the dead bird was probably the female. In wrens (as with most other birds, but not all), it is the males who do all the singing. In fact, male wrens will set up several different nest sites and will sometimes mate with more than one female at a time, the promiscuous little devils! The varied nest sites ensure that at least one will be attractive to at least one female. So if you're still hearing singing, you can be pretty sure that your bird will attract a new mate and start a new nest. If your yard is silent, it was probably the male who died, and the female will not (cannot) set up a new nest alone. She may try a new brood later in the season, but only if another male moves into the territory and she thinks he's cool enough to mate with.

The copyright of the article A Wren's Tale in Birdwatching is owned by Terrie Murray. Permission to republish A Wren's Tale in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.