northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a Carolina Wren I met last March. I'm a little surprised to realize that this is the 1st Carolina Wren post I've done [1]. I did show a House Wren before, which is in the same family if not the same genus. Before anyone asks when I was in the Carolinas, the name Carolina Wren doesn't represent the range of this species very well. Imagine a quadrilateral formed from New Hampshire, Florida, Texas, and Iowa, and you'll have a better sense of where this bird can be found [2]. This is a fairly big range with a variety of climates, and since this bird doesn't migrate [3] it must deal with these variations as best it can. One consequence is that a brutal winter can seriously deplete the northern population, though they seem to be expanding northward as our winters become milder. Their plan is to mate for life, though most birds that do this will look for another mate if their spouse dies. If you hear someone repetitively yelling "teakettle" in the w...

Here's a House Wren I met this summer. This is one of the two wrens in my area, the other being the Carolina Wren , which has lighter reddish-brown feathers. Both wrens have a rotund look, with fairly long, slightly curved beak. While the Carolina Wren can handle NJ winters, the House Wren prefers to spend the winter in warmer locales. House Wrens are very competitive when it comes to nests, attacking adult birds and/or destroying eggs of other cavity-nesting birds. Even Tree Swallows, considered fairly obnoxious and feisty birds, can be victimized by angry House Wrens looking for a nesting spot. They are one of the few birds known to employ spiders to keep their nests clean. They appear to intentionally bring spider egg sacs into their nests so that the spiders eat the mites that like to parasitize the House Wren nests. (Like many birds, House Wrens will also eat insects and spiders. I'm not sure I'd be all that comfortable if I were a spider that hatched in a House Wren ...