6.23.2005

Garden Work

I woke up this morning with the intention of getting some gardening done in the cool early hours. My herb garden is in dire need of weeding and I figured I'd spend a couple of hours outside wrestling it into some sort of order before I settled in to get some work done on the computer.

After about 45 minutes of work I was beginning to see some results (I told you, dire need). It was nice out, the birds were singing and the yard was full of hummingbirds coming to the feeders. I found myself thinking, gee, maybe I will actually get everything done...

Alas, twas not to be. I had noticed a pair of Carolina wrens fussing at me from their perch in the apple tree. Didn't think much of it, wrens just seem to like to fuss. It wasn't until my husband stopped by with some moths he wanted me to photograph that we discovered why the wrens were so agitated.



My husband discovered Junior here in the tall grass near where I was weeding.



Wrens may be tiny, but they're fiesty little birds. At first we thought to move the baby out into the yard closer to the adult birds. Junior would have none of that! He scurried and scuttled and pecked at us when we tried to catch him.

So, in the end, I gave up my weeding and came into the house. Baby wrens grow fast and it won't hurt a thing if my garden stays weedy a couple more days :)

10 comments:

Mr. Bloggerific Himself said...

He's cute, but I'm still afeared of birdies.

swamp4me said...

Mr. B, we are simply going to have to enroll you in an outdoor course so that you can overcome these fears.

I know, you and Bloggy, Jr. should come to the swamp! I will take you out in a canoe and catch critters and you can hold them -- doesn't that sound fun?!? ;)

Mr. Bloggerific Himself said...

Oh *shudders* yeah that uh *nervous cough* sounds like "fun." ;)

You know, I was in a canoe one time. And a raft on two occasions. None of these trips made me want to learn how to swim though.

Rurality said...

What a cute little guy. I love wrens! One made a nest in one of my hanging plants but abandoned it. I may have watered it before realizing...

swamp4me said...

Wrens will nest in anything -- except maybe birdhouses ;) We have had them nest in turtle shells (once in a box turtle shell and once in a yellow bellied slider shell), my raincoat hood, the canoes, the kayaks, a Chinese take-out container, hanging plants, an old teapot that I had put in the garden, a mason jar, the globe for the overhead fixture on the carport (I had taken it down to change the bulb and got side-tracked before I put it back up), and a in a toolbox that someone neglected to close, just to name a few.

And don't worry too much about the abandoned nest, from what I have read and observed, wrens will sometimes build several nests at the same time. I guess the false nests are decoys.

Magazine Man said...

Hey,

Been lurking for a while, found you via Rurality (and I think you found mine through hers, so we're even). My son LOVES the snake pics from your earlier post. He's very pro-reptile. And say the copperhead is the best snake pic he's ever seen (although Rurality's egg-eating rat snake is a close second). When you can impress a 6 year-old boy, you're doing something right. I'm still working on it myself...

Anonymous said...

Perhaps our wrens are the exception? We have had wrens in our Bluebird houses for two years in a row.

Rurality said...

Oh no, I sense I'm losing my audience of 6-year old boys... :)

Lots of the decoy/abandoned nests I've found actually have eggs in them! This one had just one.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I'm from Charlotte, living in Chicago now, and just wanted to say that I am amazed at all your pics--have traveled all over NC although not to Northeast, and cannot believe the variety of plant and animal life. Have you read Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver?

swamp4me said...

Welcome Charlotte/Chicago!

I have read Prodigal Summer, as well as Kingsolver's other books, and I enjoy her work.

North Carolina is a biologically diverse state - a good way to appreciate the diversity is by visiting one of the many state parks and natural areas in various locations throughout the state.

Did you ever visit Crowder's Mountain State Park when you lived in Charlotte? It's over in Gaston County. Another state park not too far from Charlotte is Morrow Mountain in Stanley County.

Should you ever visit the northeast part of NC, I recommend you drop by Merchants Millpond -- but be careful, you may just fall in love with it and never leave :)