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our namesake


Written on May 8, 2007 at 2:26 pm, by carson

Want to know why Lain almost fell over with excitement this morning?

Because wrens are nesting in the mailbox of the Wren’s Nest!

If you’ve been on our tour, you’ve probably seen the original mailbox, which rests on the mantle in the storytelling room. You’ve probably heard the story about the wrens that made it their home year after year, giving the Wren’s Nest its name. In fact, Mr. Harris was so fond of the wrens that he put a second mailbox next to the first, so as not to disturb the little guys with the daily mail.

Today, we have only one mailbox. And no wrens that anybody knew of, until now. This is what we found when we lifted the lid over the weekend:

wrens-nest-2.jpg

wrens-nest-1.jpg

Eggs!

Wikipedia tells me that there are about 80 species of wrens, some as small as 10 cm and 9 grams in size. That’s small enough to fit through the slot in our mailbox, methinks. They are meant to be very aggressive birds, going so far as to destroy the eggs of another species in order to set up camp. And despite their size, they have very assertive mating calls.

Tiny, but feisty. I like it.

So we’ll be keeping an eye out for baby wrens in our mailbox! And in the meantime, tell Mr. Mailman to please put all of our fan mail and donation checks elsewhere.

5 Comments to our namesake

  1. Karna says:

    I think its a good luck omen!

  2. lain says:

    Seriously! How fitting! I’m still about to fall over.

  3. Mom says:

    “Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

  4. [...] Our successes with wren’s nests, both long ago and recently, may lead you to believe that we are experts at building birdhouses. You would be wrong–but we’re working on it. [...]

  5. [...] We’ve got a replica mailbox outside now.  Last year I opened the mail one day and nearly fell over when I saw freshly laid eggs just chilling inside the mailbox. [...]

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