pert busybody

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“This pert little winter wren, for instance, darting in and out the fence, diving under the rubbish here and coming up yards away, — how does he manage with those little circular wings to compass degrees and zones, and arrive always in the nick of time?”

The little busybody “does he travel by easy stages from bush to bush and from wood to wood? Or has that compact little body force and courage to brave the night and upper air, and so achieve leagues at one pull?”

Asked John Burroughs in his 1871 book "Wake-Robin."

I've wondered much the same thing. How do they get here with such short little wings? Do they hop from brush pile to brush pile to brush pile. I'm sure winter wrens have already arrived in the Tennessee Valley but I have yet to see one of the little ground-loving busybodies this season. But somehow it's a comfort just knowing that they are there.

And speaking of winter wrens, special thanks to Ruth Anne. As part of the second annual Beaver Creek Water Association Winter Bird Count and Birding Workshop, I spoke about the winter birds of the Tennessee Valley (the species that only spend their winters here) last week.

After wards, Dr. Bob Collier outlined his plans for a bird count to be held on Saturday, January 9.

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