Yesterday afternoon shots: The lighting was better and I could get a full view of him— I caught the male house wren in the act of loading up the nest with Spider egg cases. The female will choose one from several nests that the male starts for her. This morning there are still lots of comings and goings at so I think the nest is a go. I particularly enjoy the photo directly below— spider eggs in beak and all!
- "House Wrens nest inside tree holes and nest boxes. As the season progresses their nests can become infested with mites and other parasites that feed on the wren nestlings. Perhaps to fight this problem, wrens often add spider egg sacs into the materials they build their nests from. In lab studies, once the spiders hatched, they helped the wrens by devouring the nest parasites." https://www.allaboutbirds.
org/guide/House_Wren/ lifehistory
Through the Screen Door
As I was working on today’s missive this morning I heard loud knocking at my side door. There, on the deck, was a juvenile pileated woodpecker testing the timber. I grabbed my iPhone and returned to find her on the BBQ. The adult female was dextrously helping herself to peanuts. So from the diminutive wrens to the hefty Pileated woodpeckers a lot goes on outside my screen doors.
(Sorry I had to shoot through the screen but thought you would like to see it anyway.)
