The terms “chicken hawk” and “Jenny wren” are familiar with those who remember “clod hoppers” and “pedal pushers.” So for those in my generation or those wet behind the ears, I will take a time to write about “Jenny wrens” and their cousins.

The house wren is our old familiar backyard pint-size “Jenny wren.” Not too long ago, this was the only wren we could find. Today, a close relative, the Carolina wren, has moved northward and is almost as common as the house wren. Actually, an ardent birder could discover a marsh wren and winter wren in our region, too. I’ll focus on the house wren, a summer resident in our area.

House wrens arrive here in early May with males arriving first. He spends nearly all his time searching for suitable nesting sites. Once he locates some, including your bird houses, he begins stuffing them with sticks to try to impress any potential mate in his territory. His constant singing may attract her attention long enough for him to lead her to all the nest sites he’s quickly built. If she likes one of them, she’ll hollow out a nest cavity, line it with some finer material, and after mating, lays her five or six eggs.

While she is incubating, the tireless male continues to stuff any possible nest sites with sticks. This is apparently done to discourage other males from trying to stake claim to his “yard.” This may explain to our readers why many of the wren nests never contain any eggs. I remember going into my grandmother’s corn crib (used as a shed) and finding stick nests in a bonnet hanging on a nail, the pockets of old bib overalls, an old galvanized sprayer, a half-empty nail can and her clothes pin bag. Wow, do those males ever stop? A few weeks ago, on a whim, I emptied one wren box in my yard and counted nearly 300 little twigs.

When the young hatch, the male’s energy turns to feeding them. The number of daily trips carrying food to them is unbelievable. Fortunately, for gardeners, hundreds of beetles, grubs and caterpillars are devoured each day. A second nesting is the norm, and this process starts all over again. Wow, if we only had the wren’s energy.

Carolina wrens are relative newcomers to the Times News area. As I discussed before, my birding began about 1960 and no Carolina wrens were found here. I heard a few singing on the south side of Bake Oven Knob about 1980, and now they are well-established here. The warmer winters have encouraged them to range northward, and they even visit my feeders in winter. For those not familiar with Carolina wrens, you may have found them in your sheds or garages. For some reason, they often fly into these structures and sometimes have a difficult time finding their way out. They regularly sing even in autumn after all other birds have long since stopped. If you can imitate their songs or play a CD of their calls, they charge in to confront the “intruder.” Otherwise, this wren is rather reclusive.

For the staunch birders, fall often brings winter wrens to underbrush and brush piles. If you saw one, you may have mistaken it for a house wren.

The other wren sometimes present here is the marsh wren. My buddy Dave “tweaks” them out of lakeside cattails regularly each spring. So, get out there and observe any of these four wren species.

Test your knowledge: Nature lore suggests that house wrens will puncture the eggs of other cavity-nesting birds. Is this true or false?

Last week’s trivia answer: Long-tailed weasels, mink, and river otters are all mustelids found in our area.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.