Do you have any predatory birds like Coopers Hawks, Red Tails? Or if it happened to be on the ground, any number of predators, including a cat, could have caused it's demise.

Lots of things are possible Catherine. Hate to see a House Wren in the yard. They really do cause a lot of problems. I bet the Mama Chipper had laid a nest full of eggs, then something predated her nest, and she abandoned it. Maybe she is somewhere else happily seated on a new nest full of eggs. :o)

I hope so bandjzmom! (a new full nest for the chipper somewhere else).
I have a couple house wren houses up in the yard. I guess that was a bad idea, huh?
I have an old dead box elder tree stump by our deck. It had a big hole in it and chickadees were starting to make a nest in it.......then wrens threw them out. They didn't even use the nest after that. I think I need to take those wren houses down. Its just asking for trouble.

Well Catherine, they are native birds and it is illegal to interfere with their active nests, but they really do cause a lot of problems for other cavity nesters. If that was the only bird that showed any interest in a Wren house in my yard, I would remove the Wren house, but that's just me. Sialis has a wonderful page on them. Check it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: sialis/House Wren

Thanks for that link Angie. Stupid me, I've had wren boxes up for a long time. I will take them down this winter. But I've probably attracted so many house wrens, they'll be returning to find some other place to nest forever.

I've had Carolina wrens for years, in big numbers, but I haven't seen a single one this year. The article you showed me says that they aren't a problem. I hope the house wrens didn't drive them away. :(

I have had Wren houses in the past Catherine, and nothing seems to nest inside them in my yard. I have Carolina Wrens here, and they always seem to choose realy odd spots like an old flowerpot or an old shoe in the garage. Luckily, I have only ever seen one House Wren in my yard. They don't seem to be too much of a problem here where I live, but they sure do cause lots of problems for lots of people. My battles are with the dreaded House Sparrows and Starlings.~`Angie

The Carolina wrens here (although they aren't here this year), always picked curious spots too. Its kind of fun to see where they build. One year, we had a table saw on our covered front porch, with a tarp over it. I went to use it one day and they had built a nest under the tarp. Couldn't use the saw for awhile........

Have a wooden basket hanging over the phone in the barn, so it wouldn't get bird poop all over it, and they built a nest in the basket.
Pulled up an old wooden mail box post that still had a newspaper receptacle on it, and they nested in there.

Found a nest in my watering can.
They are creative little ones!

There is now reason to be getting so close to any nest to a point where you can see eggs or chicks in it. Birds are known to abandon nests when disturbed. If they stay you can cause premature fledging of the chicks, which usually results in their demise. Also getting close to nesting area alerts predators.
Maybe this didn�t happen to your sparrows but its very possible and consequently we should never get close to any nesting area.

Well, sometimes they nest in my area, where I work or have to get to my car, etc. I have them nesting all over and around my house/shed/barn/you name it......there's nests there!

There is nothing wrong with walking by the nest which was set up next to your house or sidewalk. By choosing this location these birds show tolerance to a normal human activity. At the same there is no good reason to do this : "I went to check it and there is 1 egg in there, but the mama is gone"

Please don�t get offended by my post because I know you or anyone else on this forum would not consciously do anything to harm a bird. However, it happens.

creeper your taking this a bit to far. Yes I understand we should not "monitor" open nests like we do our nest boxes however knowing when eggs are laid, incubation begins and hatching occurs is helpful to know when to expect babies to leave the nest so we can help protect them. It also helps to know if a Cowbird egg has been laid etc.. Any good birder knows how to monitor an open nest from afar or when a closer look is needed by watching the parents behavior. I appreciate your concern for the birds but responsibly monitoring an open nest is not a death sentence for the babies. There are many stories out there of fledglings with a foot caught in the nest or babies pushed or fallen from the nest and replaced that were saved by us humans just paying attention , from a distance. You are right traipsing up to the nest to look everyday for our amusement is a bad thing and many people don't know that. Your information is valuable. Lets be encouraging to those becoming interested in birds! Watch them closely ..from afar and come here for questions!

Thank you Lisa.

Lisa
Maybe I am going to far for some and I understand your point of view and your valid argument. The problem is that what really happens is that by posting pictures of nests, talking openly on forums, (which are viewed by many sometimes very inexperienced people), about actively watching nests we are create an appearance that there is nothing wrong about nest disturbance. Just look at Deannas post. Good intention, I am sure nature loving person, trying to educate her kids climbs up a tree with five kids to look at the nest and take pictures form few inches away. Her intention was to come back to the nest often with five kids and after chicks diapered she was upset that the woodpecker�s cavity they found was to high for here to get into. Unfortunatelly this is not an isolated case.
But enough on the subject�. Everybody will make their own decisions and all one can do is to provide information.

Studies have shown that monitored nests are more likely to be successful than unmonitored nests. There have also been studies that show human scent does not attract predators to nesting sites. Most things that would want to eat a bird or the bird's eggs are not looking for human scent. I can't find the link to the study I'm thinking of right now, but feel free to search for yourself. I know in some places people are taught this, but it turns out not to be true. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology encourages people to sign up for their Nest Watch program. They do educate on how to properly monitor the nests. I believe people coming to read birding forums are the ones trying to learn more about it. I would think that people that never try to learn, and do not visit forums looking for information would be the ones that may be irresponsible in their treatment of nesting birds. Many nestlings have been saved by responsible nest monitors.

Just to clarify.......this nest was outside my bathroom window. The only time I ever went up to it outside, was when I no longer was seeing the mama bird for quite awhile.