Meet the House Wren, How to Attract This Energetic Bird to Your Landscape

The house wren, also known as the Jenny wren would never be described as a pretty bird. It's small size and dull brownish-gray feathers often make it disappear into it's surroundings, but this less than spectacular colored bird makes up for it's dull coloration with it's colorful antics and song. The male and female house wrens look identical, and their loud signing starts at daybreak and goes on throughout the day.

The male wren is the first one to arrive in the spring, often returning to a location very close to where he was hatched. The male will declare it's arrival with loud singing and defend a specific territory by scolding, threatening and chasing away any intruders, regardless of their size. Should another bird dare to build a nest within the perceived boundaries of a house wren, the male house wren will visit the intruder's nest and pierce it's eggs or destroy the nest.

The female house wren will not arrive for about two weeks after the male. During that two week time frame, the male house wren is one busy little bird. The male house wren builds a multitude of crude nests, stuffing every nook and cranny with sticks, building nests in pockets of clothing that has been hung on an outside line to dry, mail boxes or in shoes left on the porch.

The multitude of nests that a male house wren builds is another way the tiny bird has of declaring and defending his territory and it is also a way for enticing a mate. After the female house wren arrives, if she shows any interest towards the male, the male house wren will take the female on a tour of all the nests he has built. If the female house wren is seriously interested, she will choose one of the crude nests and begin rearranging. The female house wren will throw out some of the sticks that the bird nest was hastily built with and bring in softer nesting material like grass, feathers or string.

Once the nest has been rearranged to the female house wren's liking, she will lay about 6 speckled eggs and incubate them for 2 weeks. During those 2 weeks, the male house wren is still a busy little bird. He is standing guard of his nest and building more nests to attract another mate.

Both male and female house wrens have multiple mates, beginning new nest cycles even before the first young hatchlings have left the nest. Both parents feed the hatchlings from dawn till dusk and continue feeding the hatchlings for about 1 week after they leave the nest.

To attract these energetic and entertaining birds to your landscape, all you need is a bird house that has a 1 inch entry hole. The hole must be 1 inch in diameter or the house wren will not move in. The 1 inch hole protects the house wren from it's arch enemies- European starlings and sparrows. A house wren's diet consists of insects, rarely will they ever feed on bird seeds, so bird feeders are not an enticement to house wrens. Hang the bird house with the 1 inch hole and the energetic house wrens will come.