Wednesday, May 24, 2006

About the House Wren Nests

I am not sure I agree with the BirdChick. She says:

... (the) bird houses I put up this spring, all of them have been claimed as wren boxes. Not only that, they all appear to be wren decoy nests as opposed to the actual wren nest. (For non birders--house wrens will build several nests--sometimes 5 to 6 and only actually lay eggs in one of them. The others serve as decoys against predators).


Wren decoy nests?

I understand that the House Wren is a total slut. The male builds a nest and tries to entice any female into finishing it and setting up house. If he succeeds he continues to build nests and tries to entice (other) females to raise a family with him. He builds the nests as a way to attract the female and to take possession of the nest site. If he fails to attract a female he continues to build nests and try to entice females ... He may build 5 or 6 (or more) nests. There's an interesting polygynist behavioral pattern which includes secondary mating and "extra-pair" breeding. According to this set of articles a female will even destroy an existing nest and kick the resident female out to get access to the prime real estate, and the male.

Although the nests may serve later as "decoy" nests, I don't believe that is their initial purpose. Are they specifically to enhance the breeding opportunities of the male House Wren and lay claim to the resources, a by product of the extreme competition for nesting sites and opportunities, or -- as the Bird chick indicates -- to decoy against nest predators? Such predators -- it seems -- may in fact be other House Wrens.

2 comments:

John said...

Do you think that explains subdivisions?

shawnkielty said...

There does seem to be a correlation with human behavior.