Dust Magnets & Wrens

My friend, Carol, posted a picture of the beautiful view looking out from her kitchen window. It faces her back yard, full of colorful birdhouses, hanging up close, alive with aerial activity.

She then posed the question, asking what ours looks out on...

Our own kitchen window looks into the addition we built on when we kicked out the renter and decided to move here ourselves. I can see a (gas) woodstove, some paintings, plates from Carls’s china collections, the TV with a tattoo guy applying flash to the leg of his canvas, and shelves stuffed with dust magnets. If I lean forward on my toes, I can see the top of Carla's head. Once in a while she shifts her position but otherwise, the view is static all summer. 

When it's cool enough to turn off the AC and open the house up though, we usually get a Wren or two that come inside to nest somewhere in the shelving. I do see them fly by occasionally, followed below by Chicca running furiously, looking up, leaping and biting at the air, like a breaching shark. The Wrens never get overly concerned and are quite brave around me as well. We get some tiny amounts of bird crap on things but Wrens are no bigger than a computer mouse, so it’s insignificant. That’s a small price to pay for these temporary borders, their chatter and aerial acrobatics. If I close the doors too early at night, they raise hell outside until I open up again and then they expect me to open the doors again at sunup as well.

I keep their nests from previous seasons, but the Wrens like new housing and build fresh nests when they return in the Fall and Spring.