This is one of the two wren houses hanging on my porch. Ordinarily, wren houses are considerably smaller than bluebird boxes due to the obvious difference in the species size, and come with a much smaller hole.
For some unknown reason, this wren house, bought at a local agri-center, came with a bigger hole than usual. I’ve had it up for many years now, and every spring a pair of wrens would make a nest (I happened to really, really love wrens with their beautiful song and their sassy attitude).
But something unusual happened this summer – a pair of bluebirds, which normally tend to nest much farther from our house in the outlying vineyard and pastures, up and claimed this wren house here, literally within feet from my door. They made a nest, they laid eggs, they hatched the chicks, and are now bringing them fat worms right over our heads.
This one here is the mom:
A female eastern bluebird, that is.
Its resemblance to its larger cousin, the American robin, is obvious (both species belong to the thrush family).
Have you ever been this close to a bluebird?
Up until this summer, I certainly haven’t.
I can’t believe how lucky we are.
It is a beautiful thing.
