Carolina Wren

Here is why I love birding...

Today there were "lake-effect" winter storm warnings all day. It was blustery, about 30 degrees, with alternating blowing snow and periods of quiet. It went on like this all day. This was my weekend to work, so I sat with a view of all my feeders for two days straight, since there is window right next to my work computer. I had the usual birds...a nice collection of about a dozen species, including doves, a cardinal, bluejays, juncos, woodpeckers, etc., but nothing out of the ordinary.

So on Sunday afternoon, I looked out and saw a bird that almost immediately seemed not ordinary. It was hanging on one of the feeders, and at first I though "finch." I haven't seen many house finches OR purple finches this year, and they are good possibilities at feeders, but then I realized I was looking at a Carolina Wren! This was thrilling for me. I have NEVER actually seen a C. wren. When Deborah and I went on the last-of-season birding hike with Don at Ft. Harrison in Indiana late this fall, he heard (so I also heard, but would certainly not have known the song without his expert ear) a Carolina wren. They are usually south of here, and they usually do not show up at feeders in Michigan during a lake-effect mini blizzard. It made me catch my breath. I was delighted, excited, happy.

The Carolina is a large wren, with a strong long white stripe over the eye (supercilium), a long curved bill, a warm rusty wash underneath and a rich brown body like most wrens. It only stayed about 30 seconds, and so far has not returned, but I am positive it was a Carolina.

This bird is mostly a year-round resident in the eastern half of the US, but not as far north as Michigan. Common enough to the south, but not here. Yes!!!!!!