Last year, I had a pair build a nest between the window air conditioner and the windowsill. What a racket they made for weeks--and a mess. Someone told me to put crumpled aluminum foil in that spot so they couldn't nest there. I'm going to try it when the air conditioner goes in this year. It's interesting that Carolina wrens live here in Massachusetts now.

Oh Florence that is adorable. I love it. Those birds know a good home when they find one. We have a nest also but it is out in one of my maple trees, very close to the ground actually, she has 3 little babies, they are so sweet. Red Eyed Vireos. They are only a couple of feet off the ground so I can go and look at them any time I want without disturbing them. Your birdhouse is sweet, and Zeffy, well Zeffy is a wonderful rose. Valerie

Wrens are pretty bold in the bird world. They frequently build nests really close to human activity, so they seem to know what they're getting in for when the babies come. Maybe they instinctively know their little ones will be safer from predators when they live so close to humans. I had a Carolina Wren INSIST on building her nest in my newly potted hanging baskets this year and even though I took out the nesting material every single day before it really got built, they kept at it. They KNEW I was there, that I knew they were there, and that I kept tearing the nest up on a regular basis. They still wouldn't stop. That says a lot. I took down that basket and put up an empty, with a bedding of loose dead geranium roots, then put their nesting material on top of that, hoping they'd accept it. They did. They finished it out the way they wanted and now their hanging basket is the closest to the steps and to the front door. They seem perfectly happy with it. After watching them from my yard as I worked, after a couple of weeks, it seemed they had abandoned it. I never saw them again. One evening, just at dusk, I tilted the basket to peek inside and scared the mother off the nest. Again... not a peep for days. I had to practically camp out at my living room window to catch one of them. I finally am seeing them again, regularly, as the little ones are keeping them extremely busy. They're flying in with lunch and out with fecal sacs all day long, but you never see them if you're out there. I wouldn't worry about your activity near their nest, like cleaning away spider webs. You wouldn't believe all the rowdy things I've done on that front porch since they moved in. They probably will have one or two more clutches, though, before winter, so you may want to set up an alternative nesting site and see if they'll accept it, if you want to use your front door again.

I would love to read it. The Carolina Wren is one of my favorites! My email is tzmd@comcast.net