The House Wren, also known as the Jenny Wren, is one of the most melodious birds in Pennsylvania.
Even though the bird is widespread and very common in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, we only get them in our backyard about every other year. The house wren is welcome addition. Often we will hear their songs and not see the bird(s) for some time as they are quite small and love cover.
The house wren is a brown on the under parts, with fine dark barring on the upper wings and lower back. It has faint, pale “eyebrow” and eye rings. The short upraised tail is finely barred with black. The throat is whitish.
The house wren nests in most any available cavity; we watch them nest in the ends of our clothesline. The house wren will also nest in an empty flower pot or any available tree cavity; although those possible nest sites are challenged and sought after by many tree nesting birds and squirrels.
The female wren incubates 6-8 white eggs, heavily dotted with reddish brown for 12-15 days. One seldom spots the nestlings or the newly fledged birds. The house wren feeds on the ground almost exclusively for a wide variety of insects, especially beetles, grubs, caterpillars, and grasshoppers. You can add spiders and Japanese beetles to the list; making the house wren a most welcome summer and autumn resident. The abundance of insect prey is key to a nest site.
Male house wrens often made a series of “dummy” nests. It is guessed even by trained ornithologists that this is to throw off any predators or to get the best nest site after a few “test nests.” The house wren is one of the few birds in nature to do this; bluebirds are also on that short list.
The wonderful warbled song of a house wren is compared to that of a nightingale; though we do not have that species in Pennsylvania. In Greek mythology, Zeus transformed Aedon, the queen of Thebes into a nightingale.
Jim Collins is an outdoor writer for this newspaper. To contact him, email jimcollinsinsurance@frontiernet.net; or write to him at Outdoors With Jim Collins, 87 Windfall Road, Alba, PA 16910.