Wren Will They Fledge?

We have an old gourd bird house hanging in the crab apple tree just beyond our kitchen window.  Wrens have nested in the gourd almost every year since we hung it up – a long time ago!  It was May 8 when I saw the wrens checking out the gourd house for the first time this year.  Of course I was very excited!

In the month-and-a-half since then, we have watched the wrens make their nest and then we could hear the “peeps” when the chicks hatched.  I have spent a lot of time standing at my kitchen window watching the busy parents fly in and out of the gourd feeding their young.  On Father’s Day we hosted a family cookout and I even had Mark move the grill so that the smoke wouldn’t affect the babies.

The past few days we have been aware that the chicks would probably fledge soon and I’ve been really worried I would miss the big event.  Mark woke me early this morning, saying there was a lot of activity in the gourd house and that he thought the babies were getting ready to fledge.  I better get up if I didn’t want to miss it.  He went off to work and I parked myself in front of the window, watching hopefully.

Since things were moving slowly, I finally realized I had plenty of time to capture the action with my camera.  This entailed taking out the window screen (the window is a crank out) to give myself a clear view.  Still dressed in my nightgown and robe, I then climbed onto the kitchen counter, sitting with my feet in the sink.  I captured a series of photos of the babies and their busy parents.  If you look closely at the one photo, you can see there are FIVE babies in this nest!  No wonder the parents have been kept so busy!

Please click on individual photos for a larger view.

Safe in the nest.

What’s out here?

Hmmm, should we explore?

It’s crowded in here!

I see five beaks!

Where’s mom? I’m hungry!

So many hungry mouths to feed!

Pops with more food.

Unfortunately I couldn’t sit around on the kitchen counter all morning.  I had made plans with a friend so, with no fledging in sight, I finally went to get myself ready for the day.  After I returned home, I once again took up my station atop the kitchen counter, watching the nest closely.  One baby finally did venture outside the gourd.  He didn’t look all that sure of the experience!

Thinking about coming out.

A tentative step.

There’s a big world out there.

Trying his wings. (This image is a bit blurry)

I can breathe!

Do I like it out here or not?

I’m slipping!!

Maybe I’d better go back inside.

Lunch is coming.

It wasn’t long before a steady rain began to fall and I was forced to pull my head in from the window and return the screen to its proper place.  As I sit here, I can still here the peeping and buzzing inside the gourd, so the babies have yet to take flight.  I hope I don’t miss it when the wrens finally fledge!