This morning as I walked “Sally Bee” around as I picked up sticks in my yard, she and I listened to birds singing loudly in our yard. The rain had stopped and the birds were happy to have a warm, dry morning to sing. As I looked around the tree-tops to see who was singing so loudly, I couldn’t locate the singer. As he sang out again, I saw that he wasn’t up, but was down low in a brush pile that I had made for little birds to quickly hide in for safety. It’s a place that wrens often explore and there he was - a small Carolina wren that was filling my whole backyard with his singing.
As I listened I wasn’t certain what his song might mean. His singing sounded quite pleasant so I didn’t think that he was defending his territory. And as I watched him, I realized that he was calling out the “all clear” signal to his mate. He flew from the brush to the feeders and she quickly joined him. They ate for a few moments and then flew up to the tree for a quick security scan of the area before returning to the feeders.
One thing that I have noticed this season is that the Carolina wren has darkened his feathers. Instead of a reddish-brown coloration, some are almost a chocolate brown. It is just an observation that I have made and not all of my wrens have darkened, but it has made me curious about the change in some.
So, today I did some research to see what might be a reason for the change. Could this actually be a different variety of wren? At allaboutbirds.org it says that “the Florida population of Carolina wrens is larger and stouter, a darker rusty chestnut above and more deeply colored below.” Could we have some Florida wrens visiting our area?
During the winter most bird lovers put Black Oil Sunflower seed in their bird feeders. According to gardeningknowhow.com the “black oil sunflower seed has more meat than a regular sunflower seed and the outer husk is softer so even small birds can crack into the seed. It is rated the number one food for wild birds by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
These seeds are very important to birds during the winter because the oil is a high energy fatty filled food for the birds and they even “spread the oil on their feathers, increasing buoyancy and keeping them dry and warm.” So could the spreading of the oil cause the ordinary Carolina Wren to appear darker in color?
The more I searched, the more possibilities that I have found on both websites and in bird books. Then in my Reader’s Digest Book of North American Birds, I found a drawing of my dark feathered wren! It is a bird that has migrated from the Northeast to the South during the winter.
It is a Bewick’s Wren. Due to the habitat changes of dense woodlands and marshes being drained by the hand of man, these birds have decreased in numbers, and have drifted to the South to migrate in our area for a short portion of the winter! It is very similar in size and appearance to the Carolina wren, but is larger than his cousin the house wren.
It’s tame, chipper and happy to visit our feeders. It mostly enjoys and is found in open fields with low brush for cover from predators. It nests in tree cavities at the foot of a tree cavity at the foot of a tree or in between rocks in a rock wall. Like other wrens, you may find his nests in unexpected places like a pocket of a coat left in a carport or garage.
I love these cheery little 5 ½” birdies and I hope that you get to see and hear some, too.
They have a way of making your day much brighter and carefree as we continue to do as Jesus suggests and “Look at the birds of the air…” Matthew 6:26.
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