Aussie Finch Forum

Having moved my wrens to their permanent accommodation at the beginning of October they have seemed very happy in their new home. There's been lots of courting but no sign of nest building apart from seeming briefly to line a cane tunnel nest high up and in the open on the external wall wire. It's very rare to not see both wrens hopping around but granted work has meant I have only been able to check in morning and night rather than sitting watching all day long.

The last week or so the live food has been disappearing faster than I could put in but I've been blaming the painteds in the same flight who I know have young.

Today we were all convinced we could here the sound of young coming from the nest the wrens lined and both birds seemed to be ferrying food in at times, sometimes the hen would disappear right in for a few seconds, some times the cock would lean in for a second or two then leave. At least twice he went up and passed food to her in the nest.

Is it possible that the wrens could get young to the noisy stage in a nest perched high and in the open without anyone here noticing anything? If not then today's behavior, observed by all three of us (me, woodstock and our teenage son) was really strange....

Sounds promising to me, natamambo....

The unbearable tension of waiting for hatchlings to emerge has seen me drifting into idle daydreams about robotic insects allegedly made by the military to fly undetected into controlled spaces and take photos. If we could just send one into the wren nest..... they would probably ......... eat it......hmmm, scratch that idea.

Fingers crossed.

Now heres the thing , if they go in with food and watch to see if they come out with a poo parcel, thats the sign. as you know what goes in one end stimultes the back end so if there is young, they will pretty much be dropping packages off all over the place....you wont have to watch for long , just add some small live food while you are there watching...pete

In answer to the post question - YES
I have fledged clutches without seeing a bird sitting.
My purple backs have made such a neat and tidy nest that I found it last week with 1/2 grown young in it - the aviary is only 3 m x 1 m. Never saw them sit and they must have built at night and bought all the stuff on ebay as the nesting material that I put in looks untouched .
Other hens will however sit so tight you can touch them on the nest (not reccomended).