Often they are the first occupants of a backyard bird house. They live in brushy old fields, shrubby backyards, and forest edges. House wrens are the most widespread of the nine species of wrens that inhabit the United States. It is just one of many tactics they use to gain an advantage in the intense competition for the relatively few nesting cavities available.įrom a biological standpoint, I admire their ability to confront and frustrate larger competitors. She finds it “despicable.”īut it is neither good nor bad. I suspect many people would agree with my wife’s opinion of house wren’s aggressive territorial behavior. I don’t know that other species avoid building nests near active house wren cavities, but they should. In addition to the robin egg I described earlier, I’ve seen eggs of phoebes, towhees, cardinals and song sparrows similarly destroyed. But sometimes they even puncture eggs in nests of open, cup nesting species. It’s a way to “own” all the cavities within their territory. House wrens usually confine this nasty behavior to other cavity nesters. Sometimes they then remove the egg from of the nest and drop it some distance away. This kills the developing embryos and forces the “intruders” to nest again elsewhere. When house wrens find a nest in another cavity near their own, they often enter the cavity while it’s unoccupied and puncture the eggs. Within their small territory of an acre or so, they don’t like any other birds nesting nearby. While most birds limit their aggression to members of their own species, house wrens are interspecifically antisocial. House wrens are extremely territorial and aggressive. It was as if someone had plunged an ice pick through the shell. It was perfect, except for a small puncture on the side. Then I picked up the egg and examined it more closely. I thought perhaps wind from a recent storm had blown down a nest from an overhead crotch. We immediately scanned the branches over ahead, but could not find a nest. It was a pure blue robin’s egg in seemingly pristine condition.
JENNY WREN BIRD PATCH
If you are visiting Japan in spring, see if you can hear this call when you go out, and don’t forget to stop by a Japanese sweets shop to pick up some uguisu mochi along the way! 3.As my wife and I emerged from the woods a few evenings ago, I noticed a patch of blue on the trail ahead.
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It has such a strong association with spring, they even have a traditional sweet named after it: uguisu mochi. Additionally, the bush warbler’s name in Japanese, “uguisu”, is one of the kigo words used in traditional poetry to symbolize spring, and is featured in poetry anthologies from the Nara and Heian periods. They believe its call sounds like “Ho-hoke’kyo”, one of the other names for the Buddhist Lotus Sutra.
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![jenny wren bird jenny wren bird](https://live.staticflickr.com/8728/16961265197_fc44e0338f_b.jpg)
This bird has great symbolic meaning in Japan. The breeding call sounds like a low whistle ending in a warbling trill. This is because their iconic breeding calls can be heard in spring, and some consider this to signal spring’s true start. In fact, another name for them in Japanese is “harutsugedori” or the “bird that announces spring”. Despite this lackluster appearance and their tendency to stay hidden in the brush, they are considered the true harbingers of spring in Japan. The bush warblers are brownish in color with a lighter gray-brown belly and a bit of a darker stripe along their eye with light “eyebrows”. Many in Japan mistake the white-eye above for this bird, because they can often hear it but only see the olive white-eyes flying around in the trees. The Japanese Bush Warbler is a nondescript bird you are more likely to hear than see. Japan’s love for sakura means they have them planted everywhere, so it only takes a quick google to find a park or cherry blossom spot nearby. For cherry blossom season, you can go to just about any park. Since the trees are a little shorter than the cherry blossom trees, but just as packed with blossoms, there’s a solid chance you can get a good look at the white-eyes.
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My go-to spots are Osaka Castle Park’s plum grove as well as Jonangu shrine in Kyoto, where you can enjoy the weeping plum blossoms and camellia. Otherwise, keep an eye out for where groups of people are pointing their cameras! Where to see it: If you’re looking to spot some, look towards the tops of the trees where they like to hang out. These agile birds flit from branch to branch drinking the nectar of the plum and cherry blossoms and eating small insects. The Japanese white-eye, also known as the warbling white-eye, is easy to spot among the pink with an olive green head and back and the white circle around its eye from which it gets its name. If you visit some of the plum blossom groves in February or March, there is a good chance you will see this bird perched among the blossoms. Japanese white-eye perched on some plum blossoms at the plum grove in Osaka Castle Park