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RFI: Carolina Wren nesting habits
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: RFI: Carolina Wren nesting habits
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 14:44:24 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi c-birders,
Tree-huggers that we are, my housemates and I frequently ride our bikes
or carpool in to school, leaving our cars idle at home, often for days at
a time. One of my housemates recently noted a small, brown bird carrying
bits of grass into the grill of another housemate's car. This morning I
noted the same thing, investigated further, and found what appears to be
a Carolina Wren nest, at least half-completed, in my housemate's car's
grill.
So my first question is: how many nests do Carolina Wrens build? I know
that male March and Cactus Wrens build several nests, only laying eggs in
the female's favorite, and leaving the rest vacant. However, I'm pretty
sure that Bewick's and House Wrens build only one nest apiece (I could be
wrong about this, as they use cavities instead of building grass domes).
If Carolinas build several nests, this bird might not even care what
happens to the one in the car; if it builds only one, the issue is more
crucial.
Second question: is it possible to move the nest? A pair of Carolina
Wrens nested on my housemate's bedroom windowsill, about 15 meters from
where the car in question is parked, last summer; this is likely the same
bird or pair of birds. If I relocate the nest to the windowsill or
adjacent bushes, will the wrens follow, abandon the attempt and start
over, or start rebuilding in the car grille? Anyone out there
experimented with such things before?
Thanks in advance,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/