early nester

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File this one under: Early signs of spring.

Last Friday, I watched a Carolina wren gather nesting material and carry it to a box on my front porch. It was February 22.

Carolina wrens will nest practically anywhere: a box on the wall, only four feet from my front door, is always used by these strident singers with the white racing stripe. Our comings and goings do not deter them one iota. They're in your face. It's their house—Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

They are the least shy nester we have in the Tennessee Valley, not afraid of people and their noisy lifestyles and 30-year mortgages. These wrens nest on our porches, windowsills, mailboxes, bluebird boxes, our parked trucks, why if you leave your garage door open for 48-hours they nest in there as well. They love that old blue Maxwell House coffee can on the top shelf half-full of nuts and bolts. That’s just perfect. Good to the last drop. 

Both the male and female build the nest, quickly, an elaborate fluffy affair made out of scrapes of leaves and moss. 

It's also generally believed that this species mate for life with the coupled pair remaining near each other all year, a very unusual behavior for a small songbird. 

The return of winter we are feeling this weekend may slow them down, but probably not for long.

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