Well Dirtgirl, I just couldn't stand seeing your post not get answered anymore! I didn't respond earlier, because I've never seen foil in my carolina wrens' nests. It's very interesting though! Those birds find the strangest/funniest places to build their nests! One year, we had our table saw on our big, covered front porch, with a tarp over it (yes, we're pretty fancy here), and those little guys built a nest right under the tarp! Fortunately, we didn't need to use the saw for awhile. I have tarps for an awning in front of my chicken coop, that I keep drawn up in summer, and pulled down in winter, to keep the wind out. Well, there's a nest inside that drawn-up tarp now. In the winter they sleep on a ledge right outside the chicken coop. As part of my nightly ritual in the winter, of closing up the chickens, I shine my flashlight up there, and make sure there's several pairs of feet. They are cute little guys!

Gibby, house wrens and house sparrows are entirely different species. House sparrows are a non-native bird and are considered pests by many, thus are not protected by law. House wrens are native birds and it is illegal to tamper with their nests. I do not allow house wrens to nest in my boxes, however, because as you said they are can cause harm to the eggs and hatchlings of other cavity nesters. I remove any sticks I find in my nestboxes and, fortunately, have not come upon a completed house wren nest (or else I'd have to leave it alone). Since I monitor my nestboxes twice each week during nesting season I can usually catch early nesting attempts by wrens and stop them. You can find out more about both species at this link: www.sialis.org Kathy

How wonderful , I would definatly send this story and photos to Cornell http://www.nestwatch.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=577 , It would be a great story to put on the Cornell nestwatch site. May even want to send to Birds and Blooms mag, they love these stories and we are talking about an unusual nesting in flowers!! I think you get some kind of compensation if B&B uses your story. www.birdsandblooms.com keep us up dated!

Hi! A couple weeks ago we noticed 2 Carolina wrens building their nest in our fern right outside of our kitchen window. We were so excited! Then a few days ago we no longer saw them around and sadly thought that they had abandoned their nest. This morning we were talking about removing the nest from the fern and when I peeked, I saw 5 eggs! Now we are concerned if they have abandoned their eggs :( Is this possible? We haven't seen them around at all. What time of the day do they incubate? Would it be possible that we are missing their timing? We are not morning risers. Agh! I'd be so sad if by any chance we scared them away :( We have been very respectful, however sometimes we would open the window. I do not know how long the eggs have been there. I thought that as soon as they were close to being done building their nest, they had left. Do they first build and then lay their eggs? Thank you so much!