Tim, I do not have a lot of woods near my house or very many bushes. I live on a golf course with the cart path behind a little beyond my yard. I have about an acre which includes front and back. The box the wren got in is not near any bushes, but oak tree branches hang over it and not near the golf course. That box was there when we bought the house and when we cleaned out that nesting box, there was a remnant of a nest, think it was a bluebird nest made of pine needles. There are two eggs in the other nesting box and it is a few feet away from a small dogwood and about 8 feet from another tree and close to the cart path (towards the back of the yard). I thought I read somewhere that the tree branches could help when the little blues are learning to fly. I have one more box on the other side of the yard but more out in the open. I have no takers of that box yet. I will keep checking the nest with the two eggs in it. Hopefully no wren will bother it. I only saw a small brown bird briefly twice. I have I no idea what kind it was. I have a flock of titmouse that come by every morning then they leave. I also have a few mockingbirds that think they own everything. I will remove the old nest and see what happens. I have thought about getting a wren guard, but haven't yet. I am afraid it will drive away the blues.

5 eggs in bluebird box & momma is sitting! Momma tree swallow sitting now too. must have been one more than I saw in the chickadee nest....there are now SIX little mouths when I check the box. All moms have been staying in boxes past day or so. We have had lots of rain and thunderstorms with winds so I guess moms are trying real hard to keep little ones snug and dry. I think these three boxes and watching other birds obviously nesting in the spruces has helped lift from a depression. The wonder of newness of life! I am truely blessed to be in an area where I can observe these wonders. Excited to watch it all unfold!

Alisand...what a wonderful photo! Can you tell me what camera and lens you used. It's perfect! The house wrens' natural instinct is to protect their food sources, their young, and their territory from other birds. That's why they search out and destroy any eggs they can find within a certain area. It's just the way they're programmed. They're not big enough to "fight" for territory and chase off competitors. The Carolina wrens do not have this habit. I agree with you; house wrens make perfect porch companions. I had them nesting in my front yard, next to my "reading tree" last season. I'm trying to determine just how big one nesting pairs' territory is, so I'll know where to let them nest next season. I've been juggling tree swallows, chickadees, robins, nuthatches, and, of course, my beloved Purple Martins all season long. Now if I could only get Blue Birds in the mix I'd be in Heaven. I do love the little wrens; they're the comics of the yard (at least not when they're not being the axe murderers.) Still, I try to bother them just enough that they move across the street. This year they won the battle for my side yard. As always, I gave in graciously, and "legally."

If at all possible, I will try to get a video. He was on top of the nest box just outside my kitchen window and facing the main tomato garden. Wrens are great for keeping tomato plants bug-free. He's hopping up and down on top of the box. Sometimes with both feet, sometimes on first the left foot - hop, hop, hop - and then the right foot - hop, hop, hop. Sometimes his hops take him up a couple inches; sometimes a foot or more. He has both wings dropped down with his head bobbing. Then holds first one wing and then the other out at various angles and contortions...all the while doing the multi-footed polka, and singing his fool heart out the entire time. He flies straight up a couple feet and then zig-zags back down to the nest box top. Again, singing that fool heart out. I expected him to have a major coronary at any second. She looked at him; she looked in the box, (a very fine Coveside chickadee box, with slate squirrel guard, by the way) did the birdy version of an eye roll, and zoomed off. Her mama raised her better than to hang out with that sort of boy. But then...good girls and bad boys...we know how that story plays out at times!