As Our Main Course, We Have SPIDER!

  Early this morning, I needed a break from gardening so the front steps offered a shady spot.  From there I could watch the clouds building over the Bay while I sipped my lemonade.  It is also from there that I could listen to the sweet sounds of the baby wrens peeping in the hanging basket just above my head.  The tiny birds get so excited when they hear the slightest noise as they think Mama and Papa are bringing food.  To me, there is nothing better that babes of any ilk.

  The parent wrens had no problem entering the nest while I was just an arm's reach from the nest.  They have grown accustomed to my presence and just disregard the idea that I might harm them.  I delighted in seeing the birds flit in, pop a morsel in a gaping mouth and dart out again.  The search for food  was never-ending!  As I watched, I became aware of just what the birds were proffering as foodstuffs.  A few caterpillars, a few odd bugs and a lot of spiders. SPIDERS!!!  It seems that wrens have a thing for spider meals.  After about the fifth spider serving, it occurred to me that perhaps spiders were easy to find and easy to obtain.  Every nook and cranny about the bayou has some sort of eight-legged critter lurking therein.  Wrens being the busy, little hunters they are, have no problem snatching up the tidbits.

  Obviously, spiders are nutritious.  Otherwise, those feisty baby birds would not be growing so fast.  Another week and they will be ready to fledge.  Learning to fly will be the next big step in their survival training.  With that comes the lessons on hunting...perhaps even hunting spiders.  For now, however, the birds are snug in their nest as the storms are building.  Mama Wren is a wise bird to build her nest by the front door!