outdoors
Wren
Invasion? B Y J ACK SPAULDI NG One Sunday morning before Christmas,
enclosed porch side. Their dilemma now
Thinking the wave of intruding wrens
appeared to be finding a way out.
must be because of a mid-winter
as my wife and I were sitting down to
Before setting off for church, I propped
lunch, my sister Mary Jo called from her
the screen door partially open. When we
home in Ingalls, Indiana.
came home, our Carolina Wren visitors
“You’ll never guess who dropped in to
had found their way out.
migration, I was surprised to find Carolina Wrens don’t migrate. They actually expand their range slightly during fall and into the winter. They are brave little birds and are well known for
see me this morning,” she began. “I was
My sister said she tried the same.
flying into open garages and porches
still in bed when I heard something
She followed hers to the kitchen and
looking for food.
flutter by my head. I looked up, and there
propped open a door. But, instead
on my dresser was a little tiny bird … a
of going out the door, “It flew off the
Carolina Wren.
kitchen counter and landed in the
“It was friendly enough, because it
Christmas tree,” she said.
According to folklore, being visited by a wren is uplifting and inspirational. Guess I need to call Mary Jo back to find out if that lore still holds true if you
flew off the dresser and landed on the
She’d done laundry the night before, and
chase them off by socking it to them
covers right next to me,” she continued.
seeing the basket still in the living room,
with stern words and balled socks.
“I shooed it away, and it flew into the
she said she grabbed the first ordnance
kitchen.”
she could find. “I tried to flush it out of
“What are the odds?” I exclaimed.
the Christmas tree by throwing some rolled up socks at the tree. It finally came
That same morning, I told her, I saw
out and landed on the chandelier,” she
what I thought was a big round leaf on
said. Then she sternly told the bird, “It is
our screened-in back porch. Then it
time for you to go!
hopped. It, too, was a little fat Carolina Wren bustling about. As I started to turn away, I saw a second wren
“And danged if the little feller didn’t fly right out the door,” she reported.
perched on the screened window. My
Apparently, my sister’s feathered friend
twosome must have roosted in the eve
gained access through the dog door
of the porch the evening before. When
leading outside.
morning came, they exited on the
28
FEBRUARY 2020
‘til next time,
Jack JACK SPAULDING is a syndicated state outdoors writer and a member of RushShelby Energy. Readers can email him directly at jackspaulding@ hughes.net. Jack’s first book, “The Best of Spaulding Outdoors,” a compilation of his favorite articles over 30 years is now available as a Kindle download or as a 250-page paperback from Amazon.com.