Almost any time that I go outdoors there are birds singing somewhere on my property and usually more than one song in more than one location. Some of the songs I recognize (and I’m working hard at getting better at identifying songs) and others I don’t yet, but one of the songs that I do recognize is that of the Carolina wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus). The wrens songs tend to be distinctive not only in their actual notes, but also in being quite loud and quite clear. It always surprises me that such a small bird can sing so loudly. There are several breeding pairs of these little wrens that live on my property and they sing to mark their territories and keep the other wrens in theirs. One pair lives in the oak trees behind my house near where I feed and they even built a nest right next to the feeding station. The nest was well hidden and I wouldn’t have even known it was there if it hadn’t been for the parents coming and going to feed the youngsters.

There are also pairs that live further back on the property and some that live in the woods in front of the house. This bird is a male that felt I was a possible threat to his little family in the front yard. I sometimes go out there to watch the birds and he parked himself on a snag that was only about 10 feet from me and sang his little heart out. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he was serenading me with his beautiful song. The singing lasted for about 15 minutes from several nearby perches, but eventually I guess he decided either that I wasn’t actually a threat or that I was too stupid to understand what he was saying with his song. He did (and sometimes still does) make a few fly by inspections, but never got so close again. It’s these types of interactions that make watching and documenting the wildlife so incredibly interesting.