“Tea Kettle, Tea Kettle, Tea Kettle”
Crack of dawn the pair of Carolina Wrens that call our yard “home” sing their joyful “tea kettle, tea kettle, tea kettle” and we know they’ve survived another night.
A dear friend gave us a roosting basket which we hung that very day. One of our Carolina Wrens began using it immediately to safely survive the night
One bird in the basket, the other in the roof corner
The second bird spends winter nights down inside it’s nest of last year, which we’ve left exactly where they built it, in one of our hanging baskets. So, yes, our hanging baskets hang year round from our porch – a bit unsightly, but not to a wildlife gardener.
Cold winters with snow, ice, and brutal winds take their toll on Carolina Wrens. Safe night-time roost sites may mean survival and a future for these delightful songsters.
Prowling outdoor cats also take their toll. In each case the baskets are beyond a cat’s reach.
Carolina Wrens feed primarily on insects and spiders. In winter this diet can be a challenge, but not in a wildlife garden where insect-rich and spider-rich leaf litter, downed trees, upturned roots, and vegetation tangles are all available.
If you live in the East and once had Carolina Wrens and wonder why they’ve gone, it may be as simple as providing some of these buggy habitats and a safe place to survive the night.
Carolina Wrens are with us year round. They do not migrate.
They may build their nest in a natural site like a tree cavity, a tangle of vines, a tree stump, or in conifer branches. They are also attracted to artificial sites and have been known to build their nest in an open mailbox or a bicycle basket. We’ve had them build nests under the cover of our house propane tank and one year inside a ball of twine on a shelf in our shed. Of course we had to leave the shed door open for 24 days until the young fledged.
Only 24 days till we can grill.
The year they built their nest in our open barbecue grill was fun. No grilling that spring.
They’ve nested in our hanging baskets for the past several years.
In recent years they’ve settled on our hanging baskets, much to our delight. It’s this very nest that now provides shelter and safety on cold winter nights.
If you don’t have a Carolina Wren story of your own, question why.
As a long-time wildlife gardener, I’ve learned to question every action. Is it necessary? Will it be detrimental to wildlife? Most times, I talk myself out of one task or another. Am I lazy or a wise wildlife gardener? The joys I’ve experienced are my proof.
Share your Carolina Wren stories. If you don’t have a story of your own, begin to wonder why.
© 2012, Pat Sutton. All rights reserved. This article is the property of Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Pat Sutton
Mine down here in FL like to flit in and out between the open faced brick skirting around the house. I’ve tried to peer under there to see exactly where they hang out, but they certainly hide well…and now that I see your various nest locations, they must be in a corner somewhere. Love the story….LOVE the pictures of all the nests. I commend you for leaving the nest in the barbeque. I’m going to open it every day to be sure they don’t set up shop. Not sure I could do without steak for a month or more!
Loret T. Setters recently posted..Boys will be boys
Hi Loret, thanks so much. I’ll bet it you mount an old mailbox with the door open somewhere on your property (or hang a basket from an overhang), they’ll move right in and build their messy, sprawling nest in it. In the meantime have fun finding the current site of their nest.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hanging Baskets in Winter?
One winter I noticed two Carolina Wrens perched precariously on the molding underneath my front porch, so I hung a basket from a hook nearby and now they use that for their winter sleeping. We like to assign them different songs. Sometimes they say “Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger,” and other times we think they say “Beefeater, Beefeater, Beefeater.” I guess it depends on whether we’re hungry or thirsty
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..A Love Letter to Wildlife
Hi Carole, NEAT! Our friend Ward thinks they’re saying “Germany, Germany, Germany.” One of ours sings “Security, Security, Security.” No matter what they’re saying, they bring us lots of joy as they bounce with each word of their song.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hanging Baskets in Winter?
We’ve had these little guys in our geranium pots, in our greenhouse, and in an old newspaper box on a shelf in the garage. Right now they are very active at our feeders; they always remind me of little brown fairies. Thanks for the information and the lovely photos!
Hi Les, thanks! Both spots your wrens like sound tricky, where you might need to close the greenhouse or garage door. If we’ve left our shed door open, we always clap our hands before closing it . . . just in case a Carolina Wren has investigated a possible nest site & begun construction.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hanging Baskets in Winter?
Oh, I love this. We’ve had them nesting in our window box and then they’d come out and screech at us every time we walked past. I love the little nesting basket – may just have to get one of those for our front porch so the kids can watch them come and go.
Bethesda Locavore recently posted..Green and Neurotic
Hi Bethesda, thanks so much! May they move right in to a roosting or nesting basket hung from your front porch and bring you and your kids as much joy as they’ve brought to us.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hanging Baskets in Winter?
I have never seen them this far North but with the warmer weather we have I may ….we keep the yard chemical free and the plants and leaves are not cleaned up…perhaps I will see them this year…common wren visits every year and we have a wren house just for these great little birds…I’ll have to let you know Pat if we get any visits.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..The White Garden Revealed
Hi Donna, Carolina Wrens have expanded their range northward substantially since the late nineteenth century. Birds of North America has a great map of their current range: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna
It looks like you may be just north of that range, but keep your eyes open. In Massachusetts they’re now found throughout the state at lower elevations and in river valleys, and “in upstate and interior New York during first 4 decades of twentieth century, considered a rare straggler, but gradual increase noted after 1953 and has become a fairly common to uncommon resident in those areas” (again, according to Birds of North America).
So, YES, keep your eyes open and continue to enjoy your lovely yard!
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hanging Baskets in Winter?
They love to build nests in our garage since we leave the door open most of the time. Carolina wren is one of my favorites and I’m thrilled to have them around every year. Great pictures and I will listen for the “tea kettle” call more knowingly now.
Ellen Honeycutt recently posted..Taking Stock of the Flock
Hi Ellen, Carolina Wrens are one of my favorite garden residents too. Keep up the great work in Georgia promoting native plants !
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hanging Baskets in Winter?
Hi Pat,
Just came across your website — you have some great information! I live in north central Florida and I have a rather unusual situation (in my experience anyway). I have a lone Carolina Wren who roosts in my enclosed porch every night, clinging to a power wire. I had a pair of wrens who nested on my porch this summer, raising four separate broods. Because of that I left the windows open all summer so they could come and go. This little guy starting sleeping out there after the fourth brood fledged, which has been about two months now. Is it possible that he is one of the fledges and finds the porch to be a familiar, safe place? I’ve never seen this behavior before. My freezer is on this porch so if I need something from there I have to get it before 7 pm because he’s in for the night by then! If I happen to disturb him he stays outside all night. If he continues to roost here, I’m concerned what the winter might bring as we do get some pretty cold nights. Would a roosting pocket or gourd be appropriate? Also, do summer fledges mate for the first time the following spring? Also, I refer to this little bird as ‘he’ but I’m not sure if it’s male or female.
Molly, sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to your fun news of Carolina Wrens on your enclosed porch. A string of things set me back. Sorry. The Carolina Wren feels safe on your enclosed porch. But if you were to offer an alternate safe place to roost, I bet it would turn to it. A good alternate roost could be a roosting basket (like the one I included in my post above: 2nd photo); place it in a sheltered spot outside (maybe hanging from an overhang). We hang ours from a hook under our front porch. And it’s brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr cold up here in southern NJ in winter and it survives just fine.
To answer your question about when a youngster is old enough to mate, turn to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s website — specifically their “Birds of North America”:
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/ You can look up each bird and learn that sort of natural history. Keep enjoying the natural world.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hibernaculum: Winter Home to Red-spotted Purple