Our friends the Carolina Wrens

Every year we have a Carolina Wren couple who builds a nest on the top of the column on our front porch near the front door. Momma bird flies off quickly when Mom and Dad come by (and Mom screams every time), but even though Momma bird gets disturbed she still sticks around and comes back.


Here is Momma bird looking over her nest of eggs.


This is when the baby birds were just born.


And here are the babies about to head out. We hadn't seen Momma bird and were afraid she had abandoned the nest and we were checking on the babies.


But it turns out they were about ready to move on, because the next day we had an empty nest. (There was one egg that never hatched, but the babies were all healthy and out in the great big world.)

The funny thing is we never seem to see the little ones leave. It must be when we are asleep or not paying attention to them. It's just one day they are here, and the next they're gone. We have no idea of the life span of these birds, but assume that they are either the same birds, or offspring, that come back every year. We are probably wrong, but we like to think they are anyway.