A Wren Family in Trouble

The birdhouse was meant for bluebirds. It stood a few yards from our front window, and not far from a big maple tree. As it turns out, not far enough from the maple tree.



Almost every year a pair of bluebirds took up residence in the house, providing Ruth and me a treat watching them fly in and out of the little house, tending to the little ones there.



Not this year. No bluebirds—the birdhouse stood vacant. But not for long. A pair of wrens, searching for a suitable place to take up residence and raise a family, moved in. We watched them and listened to their early morning chatter and their saucy scolding if we walked too near their newfound home.



All was well until a stormy night in late July smashed off a major part of the maple tree, but mostly leaving the birdhouse untouched as the smashed limb surrounded it. A week later, when I assembled my little crew of chainsaw users and brush haulers, everything changed for the wren family. We couldn’t avoid it. A major part of the chain-sawed limb smashed off the birdhouse post and the house fell to the ground.



I hoped the wren family had grown and left, but not so. The little ones were still in the house, shaken, but alive. Steve gathered up the birdhouse—still in good shape, but without a support post—and fastened it to a pine tree. All the while the wren parents flew about, chattering their unhappiness of all that had happened to their little family.



A few days later, I once more watched the wren couple flying in and out of the house. Wren family life back to normal?



THE OLD-TIMER SAYS: Saving a wren family is the right thing to do.



ANOTHER WRITING OPPORTUNITY:

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WHAT: A “Telling Your Story Workshop”



WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019—9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.



WHERE: Wyocena Community Center, Wyocena, WI



REGISTRATION INFORMATION: Contact Wyocena Library (608-429-4899) or Portage Public Library (608-742-4959)



Workshop fee includes a copy of my book, “Telling Your Story,” and a catered lunch.

Sign up soon, limited seats available.



UPCOMING EVENTS:





August 8, 6:30 p.m. Galloway House and Village, CCC Barracks, 336 Old Pioneer Rd., Fond du Lac. CCC story.



September 12, 7:00 p.m. Belleville H.S. Auditorium, Belleville. Simple Things: Lessons From the Family Farm.

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Purchase a copy of THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS IN WISCONSIN, and SIMPLE THINGS: LESSONS FROM THE FAMILY FARM from your local bookstore or buy them from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org