Home is Where the Heart Is!

Home is where the heart is.  I have heard this saying all of my life!  My granddaddy used to tell me that back in the day.  When I was small, it confused me a bit.  I could never understand just what he was trying to tell me.  Then, when I was a bit older, I  understood the whole concept about love and family making up the home rather than just  boards and nails.  Anyway, today when I was out hiking about the hillside, I noticed a small bird nest.  While most birds make their nests in bushes or trees, a house wren will make their nest in a place that is far more convenient!  They have a preference of having a roof over their head!  If a nesting box is handy, it will be occupied!  If no nesting box is handy, any container will suffice!

The bird nest that I discovered today was in a place that might have been convenient for nest-building but was not too overly convenient for my brother.  The house wren had made its nest in his ice chest! This cooler was the one that he takes fishing.  His live bait swims around in the old ice chest and is alive and ready for a fish.  Well..not now!  The wren built a lovely nest in the cooler!  In that nest were two eggs!  Mama Wren was not happy with my presence during her egg-setting so I could not get a good photograph!  I did not want her to abandon her already lain eggs so I backed off to let her have her space!  In  a couple of weeks, I will check again and perhaps get to see the babies!

It amazes me that these small birds have little or no fear of humans.  I can recall that a wren always made a nest in Granddaddy's shed right above his workbench!  That little bird would be within six inches of his hands while he worked on one project or another!  Also, back when the kids were young, a wren made a nest in our laundry room!  I had hung a plastic Halloween Jack-O-Lantern on a hook above the washer.  This held my clothespins that would be used daily..or at least daily until the nest was built!  After the little ones were hatched, the kids would take the plastic pumpkin down from the hook and set it on the kitchen floor.  There they could play with the baby birds!  Mama Wren would continue to fly in and out while feeding her babies!  So I suppose that home really is where the heart is!  Mama Wren can make a nest in anything!  As long as her babies are with her, she is happy and at home!   As for the nest in the cooler, I suppose Mama Wren is happy.  (Not so sure that I can say the same for my brother!)