For the Birds

Two weeks ago a Carolina Wren decided to start building a nest in one of our flower pots located on our balcony. The flower pot is on the other side of our bedroom window. We awoke to the bustling activity of the birds building their new nest and the perfectly still gaze of our cat watching her next conquest. Zephyr hasn't been this interested in anything since she saw Eight Below on DVD last winter.

Carolina Wrens are small (about 5 inches long) non-migratory birds that primarily inhabit the southern states. They often build their nests in odd places like mail boxes, car bumpers, and broken tail lights. In our case they chose to nest in a flower pot.


We tried to discourage the birds by letting our cat have free access to the balcony. We figured they had neglected the three most important rules of real estate (i.e. location, location, location), and that they would be better off finding a new home. Unfortunately, within a few days we discovered an egg. For four days thereafter, we discovered a new egg every morning.


Needless to say, we have now locked our cat out, which she very vocally objects to throughout the day. She has settled on waiting and watching the bird nest from our bed for hours at a time.


We're expecting the birds to hatch soon. They will spend about two weeks in the nest before flying away. We're hoping that all the eggs hatch so that we will have five beautiful new wrens to watch.