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House wren babies abandoned?

12 years ago

Yesterday I was out hanging clothes and other busy work around my porch and I heard a lot of noise coming from the wren birdhouse. We have a hanging birdhouse on our porch which is inhabited by a pair of wrens that I believe to be repeats for several years. They are very used to our comings and goings and my clothesline is within just a few feet of their house; they are not alarmed by my presence whereas the wrens on the other end of the porch seem not as sure of us. They always perch on the end of the clothesline and really give me a talking to though. Yesterday though.....they were not around and the racket was 2 babies in the doorway just really carrying on. I thought them quite cute. That afternoon they were not in the doorway as I was bringing in the clothes but I kept hearing them. Finally I realized that the sound was from the ground and the little guy was looking up at me....almost like he was trying to get my attention. I did pick him up and put him back into the house. I think that the other one must have bumped him out. Today I see nothing and hear nothing. Could the pair have been deserted by their folks and they were hungry and that is why they were carrying on so much yesterday? I hope I didn't do wrong in putting him back into the house but I fear that something is wrong. Any ideas?

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Comment (1)

surya55_gw
12 years ago
I am just guessing here but they may have fledged- a few questions here- how did they look in appearance? Were they all covered in feathers that look like they may be able to climb/hop onto shrubs for cover? Or were they very small and helpless looking? The noise you heard was probably them responding to the parents' calls to leave the nest. (Parents usually do that from a distance to get them to leave the nest.)I'm thinking that they're long gone with the parents. Fledglings usually leave the nest/area as quickly as possible and find cover elsewhere where the parents feed them until they're able to fend for themselves. Hope this helps.

Nerry
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Thanks for the replies - so far the House Wren has not touched the surviving two Baby Blues - and momma and Papa are taking care of them. However - I can hear the Wrens all around, and I also am removing sticks from the other boxes around the property. I should have tried a Wren guard - however I have never put one on - so was worried about the Blues not taking too it. But if they nest again, I will for sure try it - after the first egg is laid. One a side note - we have a dead tree in our back yard - that a wood pecker bored a hole in, and must now have a nest in it. I saw her chasing the wren a way - but her nest is pretty high up. Also - we have a Phoebe nesting under our overhang - this is her second year. I went and checked her eggs out - and there was a Cowbird egg in it! We also had two robins nest near our house - both nests were robbed of their eggs - I'm thinking the crows got at them. Unfortunately no Chickadee nests in our boxes this year.. but probably best because of the Wrens..... seems like they arrived early this year. So did the humming birds.
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Perhaps you could put up a second house somewhere near just like the first and give them an alternative. I've had good luck with this when I get birds battling over a box. Of course that's a slippery slope and why I have so many bird houses. Maybe you shouldn't listen to me.
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House wrens are only a threat to Bluebird eggs and new hatchlings until they are about 6 days old, after that the wren can no longer pick them up and throw them from the nest which is what a wren will do to baby birds. If you had almost fully grown babies killed in the nest it was probably due to House Sparrows, the wren maybe came afterwards and filled the house with sticks. If you have wrens in the area once the Bluebird lays the first egg you can install a wren guard, but you would need to watch closely to make sure the Blues accept it, some don't. A wren guard is made of cardboard and comes down off the front of the nestbox and down to conceal the hole of the box from the frontal view, sides can be added to prevent a wren on the top of the nestbox looking down over and stills seeing the hole. Info on this is on the sialis.org site. Also to prevent House Sparrow attacks you can add a sparrow spooker to the nestbox once the first egg is laid, it is to be taken down right after fledging. This info is also on the sialis site. Good luck! Donna
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I'm really sorry your babies were taken and the nest destroyed. Is the nestbox on a metal pole with a baffle? If not, that could be the problem. Raccoons are everywhere, even if you haven't seen one. If the box is mounted on a wooden pole or a fence it is easy for a raccoon, a cat or any other climbing animal to get to it. If you haven't already looked at the sialis.org website you should spend some time reading and make sure you have a proper setup. You know, even when you are being really careful sometimes tragedy just happens. I don't put out any feeders at all because I'm afraid of bears coming around for food. I know the birds have plenty of natural food and if they can't make it out there then maybe they shouldn't.
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