Carolina Wren- The Teakettle Bird

This post comes courtesy of Dub Strickland.  It's not 100% horticulture-related, but we like things in nature other than plants, you know.  Thanks Dub!

The Teakettle Bird

     “teakettle-teakettle-teakettle” “teakettle-teakettle-teakettle” Ounce for ounce the Carolina Wren is the loudest little bird you will ever hear. Thryothorus ludovicianus is about 6 inches long and weighs less than an ounce. He usually keeps his tail about 90 degrees to his body. His upper parts are a reddish brown while the under parts are a buff color. He has a distinctive white supercilium (eyebrow) and a whitish throat. There are several varieties of wren in the United States but the Carolina Wren is a common year round resident in the eastern United States and the one I most commonly see in my yard.

    

They are listed as secretive birds that “creep through vegetation foraging for insects.” But my feeling is they are almost sneaky. They are very territorial so the male does not hide much and with his loud call you will know where he is most all the time. The female on the other hand can be very secretive when it is time to sit on a nest and feed the young. I walked into a little used area of the basement late one morning to find 5 little wrens learning to fly from a nest that was in a half closed cupboard on the wall. She had to wedge through the crack in the door to take care of them.

     They prefer to eat insects but in the winter they are frequent visitors to my suet feeders and the peanut feeder. They also eat more of the mealy worms I leave for the Bluebirds than the Bluebirds do.

     One last thing. Since they don’t migrate this cold weather is hard on them. Clean your bird houses out and put a handful of shredded paper or other dry fluffy nesting material in it. They might thank you.

Dub Strickland

Georgia Master Naturalist
Sautee Nacoochee, GA
dub@wildflyers.com