A Carolina Wren Comes to Roost
December 5, 2015
Last night I just discovered a Carolina Wren sleeping under the eaves on my front porch. My first reaction was what the heck is that little brown thing up there in the corner? I have red squirrels, chipmunks and field mice around the yard. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was a little rodent or some other strange creature. Finally after peering out the door at it for a time, I opened the front door, went out and walked up underneath it. As I slowly, quietly walked up below it, I realized it was a little bird. It didn’t flinch a feather as I stood there a couple of feet beneath it, peering up at in the light of the porch lamp. After observing it from different angles and being certain I was not disturbing it in any way, I went inside and grabbed my camera to take some photos, because it looked so strange all puffed up there, roosting in the corner as it was.
I knew it was not a Sparrow and given the coloring, I thought it must be Wren of some sort. Checking my bird book, I determined it must be a Carolina Wren. My first instinct, once I realized it was a Wee Little Wren, a favorite bird of mine, was to take it down from the corner and hold the poor little creature in my hands to warm it up. It made me cold to see it up there roosting in the corner instead of in a warm nest or bird house somewhere. I myself was shivering from the chill in the air.
“Why was it not roosting in a bird house,” I questioned myself? “There are plenty of bird houses about in the yard,” I told myself. “Perhaps it is new to the neighborhood, as I am,” I thought. Perhaps it is lost and sought shelter here on my front porch.
This morning when I awoke, the Wee Little Wren was gone. I looked about in the shrubbery in the front yard near the porch, where I had seen a Carolina Wren just a few weeks ago and I saw no signs of the Wee Little Wren. In fact, when reflecting on finding the Wren on the porch the night before, I was certain that I had not seen the Wren roosting there before. My front door is all glass panes with an antique wood panel door over it that stays open all day. Every night before I retire, I close the antique wood panel front door, turning on the front light and stepping out onto the porch to pull the old door shut. Surely I would have noticed the Wren roosting in the corner, prior to last night. Not much escapes me, observant as I am.
This evening, as the dusk settled in and the sky darkened here on the river, I turned on the porch light and found the Little Wee Wren had returned to the front porch and was already settled into the corner to roost for the night.
Earlier in the day, I had hung up a little bird house up for the Wren, thinking it might prefer a little house with four walls to a semi-exposed corner on the porch. I made certain to place the house next to the corner, but not in the corner, just in case Wee Little Wren might still prefer the corner to the bird house. My instinct to leave the corner space for the Carolina Wren was a good one. Apparently roosting in the corner is more appealing to the Wren than an actual bird house. Perhaps the Wren, if it decides to continue living on my front porch, will check out the bird house and find it far more comfortable a nest for its nightly rest.
In the meantime, I am so grateful for the gift of the Wee Little Wren sleeping on my front porch. I am happy to have its company, as I have not been nesting long here on the river myself. Wild creatures, like humans, are often creatures of habit. Even migratory birds will return to the same nests year after year. As I am new to the neighborhood, I wondered if the Wee Little Wren had just returned to winter here on the river or if it is new to the neighborhood as am I.
My mind wandered… I wondered, would the Little Wee Wren find a mate to keep it warm on the cold winter nights to come. I wondered, if the Wee Little Wren had had its heart broken and that was why it was alone, sleeping in the corner of a porch, as winter draws near. Relationships come easy for some, harder for others. That certainly has been my experience in this life. Would that that would change… I would watch for the Wren to return again tomorrow night. I would keep vigil for the Wee Little Wren who had chosen my porch for its new roost. Life is always changing, bringing new opportunities when we least expect them. I hoped that the resourceful Wren was signal that I was on the right track as I begin my new path, writing my life here on the river. Time would tell for both of us.
