NATURE CLICKS #479 - CAROLINA WREN

The Carolina Wren has one of the most remarkable songs we can hear during the winter. They are here all year long but we see them most of the time only in the cold season. I saw a pair the other day but usually only one bird shows up briefly every day. The wren moves fast and hops around between a suet feeder and the ground. Hard to make a good image that way. Yesterday, while I was out on the balcony with the camera on tripod, this Carolina Wren appeared right in front of me. They are slightly bigger than the House Wrens, who spend the summer here every year between the end of April and August.

The equipment I used for the photo was the same as mentioned in yesterday’s blog post. That little bit of flash light made all the difference again between a dull picture and one with some colors.

NATURE CLICKS #416 - CAROLINA WREN

To say it mildly, the weather has been lousy, with a lot of rain lately. Consequently having a little bit of hazy sunlight yesterday morning felt very pleasant. Early morning has been the best time to see migrating birds recently, or at least birds that are not around our house all the time. There are still two Red-breasted Nuthatches present and during last weekend I saw a White-crowned Sparrow. Two Carolina Wrens were picking up spiders on our porch yesterday morning and when one of them posed nicely in the mild sun, I got this photo right from the bedroom window.

NATURE CLICKS #415 - MIGRATION TIME

Red-breasted Nuthatch

I like to interrupt again my “OUT WEST” series here in the blog for some actual photos and wildlife encounters we had here in our woods on the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa Valley. Since a few days we have a few birds here that either migrate through or may stay for part of the winter.

The White-breasted Nuthatch calls our woods home but every fall we have at least one Red-breasted Nuthatch joining them for some time. They never stayed here all winter long. The red-breasted is much smaller than the white-breasted and their white eyebrow and orange belly makes it easy to identify.

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wrens are supposed to range all year long in this area but we see them only occasionally in fall or during the winter. Maybe they avoid our neck of the woods because our House Wrens, who are now already much further south, are too aggressive and territorial. I hardly ever show pictures that are made at a bird feeder, unless it is a species we don’t see very often or it is a first sighting. I couldn’t resist to make this click through the glass of my office window. The deer antler sits on top of the roof of a wooden seed feeder and allows the birds to perch.