{"id":15147,"date":"2014-06-04T03:34:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T09:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15147"},"modified":"2026-05-09T11:02:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T16:02:52","slug":"house-wrens-nesting-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/04\/house-wrens-nesting-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern House Wrens – Nesting Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a few days now I said I was going to do a post about the Northern House Wrens I photographed at the same nesting tree as the Williamson’s Sapsuckers, here it is. The Northern House Wrens are lifers for me too although I have seen them before for me they are lifers only when I photograph them.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren at a nesting cavity<\/span><\/p>\n

The Northern House Wrens and their chattering are what clued me in on the nesting tree that the Williamson’s Sapsuckers also showed up at.\u00a0If you compare this image to the nesting cavity that the Williamson’s Sapsuckers used in this post<\/span><\/a> you will notice that the wrens were trying to nest in the active sapsucker nesting cavity.<\/p>\n

After pointing out the wrens, my companion and I were able to both photograph the wrens and other birds at this wonderful nesting tree.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren bringing in nesting material<\/span><\/p>\n

Northern House Wrens are secondary cavity nesters and this pair has the Williamson’s Sapsuckers to thank for their nesting cavity this year from a cavity the sapsuckers made a previous year. This wren was bringing in some nesting material the first day I photographed them.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren on an aspen stump<\/span><\/p>\n

This image shows a perch that the wrens would fly to with nesting material in their bills and from it they would fly up to the nesting cavity. The problem for me as a photographer was that the wrens would fly up to the cavity with their backs to me.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren at the cavity with nesting material<\/span><\/p>\n

The Northern House Wrens were busy bringing in nesting material the second day I photographed them and it seemed to me that they had settled on this nesting cavity. They chattered quite often on both days and that brought other birds into the area that appeared to want to find out what the noise was all about.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren with its head poking out of the nesting cavity<\/span><\/p>\n

Tree Swallows were the most persistent of the “visitors” to the nesting tree and they dived towards the cavities whether the Northern House Wrens or Williamson’s Sapsuckers were inside the cavities or not.<\/p>\n

\"HouseNorthern House Wren taking a break from singing and nest building<\/span><\/p>\n

Occasionally the Northern House Wrens would take a break from singing, chattering and bringing in nesting materials to perch on a branch nearby that had fallen to the ground which gave me opportunities for close up shots of them. One hopped off of that perch and approached within 3 feet of the vehicle but I couldn’t photograph it that close. The Northern House Wrens are tiny little birds but they sure have big attitudes!<\/p>\n

Had it not been for my keen eyes, ears, and my observation skills, I could have missed out on these wrens and the other fantastic birds that came in to this tree.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Northern House Wren photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

The Northern House Wren calls are here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

All images were created using my Nikon D300 and the Nikkor 200-400mm VR with a 1.4x TC attached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a few days now I said I was going to do a post about the Northern House Wrens I photographed at the same nesting tree as the Williamson’s Sapsuckers, here it is. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,2578,2244,2586,2261],"tags":[4004,1919,4897,9800,3720,5147,6306,3976,473,2580,4182,2579,2587,4104,11747,6576,7791,4894,4179,5113,2585,5802,3822],"class_list":["post-15147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-clark-county","category-idaho","category-house-wrens","category-targhee-national-forest","tag-adult","tag-aspen","tag-branch","tag-break","tag-cavity-nesters","tag-chattering","tag-head","tag-nesting","tag-nesting-behavior-2","tag-nesting-cavity","tag-nesting-material","tag-nesting-tree","tag-house-wren","tag-perched","tag-poking","tag-populus-tremuloides","tag-quaking-aspen","tag-secondary-cavity-nesters","tag-singing-2","tag-stump","tag-troglodytes-aedon","tag-wren","tag-wrens"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-perched-mia-mcpherson-2387.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Wj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15316,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/04\/the-magical-sapsucker-tree-in-clark-county-idaho\/","url_meta":{"origin":15147,"position":0},"title":"The Magical Sapsucker Tree in Clark County, Idaho","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A month ago I photographed a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nesting cavity in Idaho and this past week I spent several days photographing them again.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Williamson's Sapsucker leaving the nesting cavity, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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where stands of aspens are used as nesting trees.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Northern House Wren on the outside of its nest, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-aspen-nest-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3859.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-aspen-nest-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3859.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/house-wren-aspen-nest-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3859.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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