I used to clean house for a man named Joyce (yes, his name was Joyce), and I took care of the Boston fern he had his living room. When he died in 2000, one of his daughters gave me the fern, and 22 years later, it is still with me, and as it usually does, is spending the summer on the porch.
This is a picture of the fern from 2010.
This year it doesn’t look quite as lush.
Most people who live where Carolina Wrens also live almost certainly have a story about the strange places these enchanting little birds choose to build their nests. We are no exception.
One year they built a nest between window screen, which had been torn from the frame by a raccoon, and the window…
One year they chose a partly open umbrella on the porch…
Several places in the garage...
including in the coiled hose for the air compressor.
A few days ago I discovered a nest in the fern.
This is a terrible place for them to have picked. The fern is right next to the door, and we disturb it frequently throughout the day.
She has laid 3 eggs so far. I am not holding out much hope that she will successfully hatch the eggs and raise the babies. A black snake lives under the porch and will almost certainly make a meal of the eggs or the babies.
In the meantime, I have to figure out how to water the fern without dousing the nest. Ice cubes??
2 comments:
I enjoyed you sharing each nest. I love anything nature. :-) It is so amazing what birds, animals and insects will do!
xx oo
Carla
Unfortunately, I found the mother wren dead this morning in the saucer under the fern and the eggs are gone, so I assume a snake got them. Sometimes there are happy endings and sometimes not so much.
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