Baby Wrens Update 1

Here's a quick update on the baby wrens.

I think the wren eggs hatched on May 16th and my earlier photo shows them at 1 day old. The following 2 photos show them at 4 and 6 days old.

They're developing rapidly, as you would expect if they're going to fledge by day 14. At day 4, they still have bare skin showing, but by day 6 they're completely covered by feathers. Their eyes are still shut.

I'm trying really hard to not disturb them constantly. The parents are not in the nest all of the time. In fact, I did not see them when I took these two photos. Before, when I took photos of the eggs and then when I would check to see if they'd hatched, the mother bird was always in the nest.

The parents must be out gathering food and I've seen a Carolina Wren in oak trees near the garage.

Baby Wrens

Mary called me at lunch last week. She noticed a bird had made a nest in our garage on a shelf among some spray paint cans. When I got home I went out to get some photos. As I approached the mother bird took off and although I didn't get a good look, I could tell she was a small brown bird with a pointy beak.

I was able to get a few photos, but didn't want to take too long or disturb the mother. The nest was about five feet off the floor and made from leaves and twigs. It looks like the inside is lined with hair, possibly dog fur.

The eggs were white with brown spots and were about 1/2 inch long. There were 6 eggs in the nest.

Mary and I are not bird experts, but we have access to several in our Master Naturalist Chapter. I posted the photos to our Chapter's forum and quickly got an identification.The bird was most likely a Carolina Wren. We looked the bird up in our Peterson bird guide and it looked like the correct identification. We thought it might also be a Bewick's Wren which is very similar, but the Carolina is a bit redder.

I wondered how long they had been there and when they would hatch, but had no clue. These photos were taken on Tuesday, May 11th, so I would just have to keep watching and see when the chicks hatched.

On May 17th, Mary told me that there were now baby wrens in the nest! I took this photo that day, and I think the chicks are less than a day old. As you can see, they only have a few feather tufts on the head and are bare otherwise. They have huge eyes. They're really quite ugly, but in a "cute" way. All six eggs have hatched. I looked up the incubation period for Carolina Wrens and it's about 12 to 14 days, so the eggs were laid in early May, probably around May 3rd. The eggs hatch synchronously, within 24 hours of each other.

The parents coax the young ones out of the nest after 12 to 14 days, so I'll keep an eye on their progress and keep you updated.

Naturescapes 2010

This year I'm the Hill Country Photography Club's Coordinator for the 6th Annual Naturescapes Photography Contest and Exhibition.

Goals of the contest include increasing public awareness of the importance of protecting our natural world and giving photographers at all levels of experience a chance to capture, share, and receive recognition for beautiful and inspiring images. The Contest is now accepting entries and the deadline for submissions is Monday, July 12th.

The contest is sponsored by the Hill Country Photography Club and the San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance. You can find out more about the contest, including the rules, here. The basic requirements are that the photos be taken within Hays County, within the last 2 years.

The San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance maintains a flickr page where you can view the images from 2007, 2008, and 2009, and the previous award winners. Be sure to take a look. The images accepted for the Exhibition are of the highest quality and you'll find some truly beautiful nature photography.

If you're interested in nature and photography, this is your chance to share the beauty of the Hays County natural areas and perhaps receive recognition for your work!

Nature’s Seed Bank

We’ve gotten a great demonstration this year of Nature’s Seed Bank.

Not only have we had more rain recently, but it’s come at the right time. I track the rainfall at our house; for 2008 the total was 16.4 inches, for 2009, 36.7 inches, and for the first 4 months of 2010, 13.6 inches.

All the plants are much greener and thriving like we’ve never seen. For example, we’ve always had a little bit of deer pea vetch. This native plant is an annual and a legume. Like all legumes, it fixes nitrogen and improves the soil. It’s never been very pervasive, however. At one time I thought the seeds had been brought in the top soil that our builder used.

This year, however, it just exploded and grew in thick patches. It grows in long vine-like strands and can be difficult to walk through. And it’s everywhere, not just around the house, but out on the property where the builder did not work. Here’s a photo of a typical patch. If you look closely, you can see the tiny pea pods.



So where did it come from? The answer is Nature’s Seed Bank! The seeds have been in the ground all along, lying dormant, waiting for the right conditions to germinate.

I like to think of the seeds as the genes' escape pods, ejected from the dying mothership, carrying the genes to safety, possibly for many years, until the conditions are right for them to express themselves.

I’m using the deer pea vetch as an example. The Seed Bank has been at work for all plant species, most of which I can’t identify except in broad categories: grasses, wildflowers, forbs.

At this point, in early May, with the days getting hotter, most of the vetch is turning brown and dying, but that’s ok, because the account in Nature’s Seed Bank has been replenished.