Second brood of House Wrens in the bird box
It’s not just the bluebirds that raise a second brood in our backyard. As other years before the House Wrens feed young birds again. About a week ago I checked the bird box and counted six eggs in the nest. I checked again yesterday and it looks like all have hatched, although it was impossible to count the nestlings in this little bowl of feathers.
In this humid and warm weather here in eastern Iowa at the moment there are plenty of insects and larvae. Both parents feed with high intensity. Here the female went into the box with food in its bill. A few seconds later the male often shows up and passes his catch to the female. In this instance the female didn’t take it but the male House Wren went to the nest after the female had left.
It amazes me always how big of a prey these baby birds can swallow. Look at the size of the bug in the male’s bill!!