Wildlife

One of the loudest wild birds in our area is also one of the smallest! Meet the Carolina Wren. These industrious little birds are seen year-round in the Mid-Atlantic and can be hard to spot because of their size. They have brown, chunky bodies with a white stripe over their eyes, and tails that are often held straight up, unless they are singing. In the spring, they build large and elaborate nests in fairly unusual places that they find in their environments, such under a propane tank lid or in an old Christmas tree base! They typically raise 2 broods per year in our area. These little birds prefer spending their time in the underbrush, so keeping a brush pile and some healthy native shrubs around is a great way to attract them to your backyard. Wrens don’t visit feeders as often as other songbirds, rather they prefer foraging among tree bark and dried leaves for insects. However, they will eat suet or peanuts during the winter months when wild food isn’t as plentiful. In the winter, pairs will often sleep in cavities or protected spaces together, which will include bird houses or old woodpecker holes.These common backyard feeders are found across the US and are often confused with the Purple Finch. They look quite similar, with males exhibiting red feathering over their heads and breasts and brown and white striping through their bellies, backs and tails, and females with brown and white striping all over their bodies, they are different species. House Finches are not native, they were introduced in the 1940s when a small group was released by some pet store owners in New York who were trying to illegally sell them as cage birds. Since then, they have become one of the most common backyard feeders in the US. They prefer traveling in flocks and will often visit feeders in medium to large groups. They are very chatty birds, and can often be heard chirping to each other around feeders and in shrubs and trees. They are not migrators, so they can be seen all year. Breeding pairs will have 2-4 clutches per year and build tightly woven nests in a variety of protected spaces (e.g. cavity, thicket, etc.).