An exciting morning here in the back yard. After we greeted our neighbor Bruce and his dog, Marcel, I noticed a ruckus over by the sycamore tree. Mr. Wren was dive-bombing a young squirrel who happened to venture into the territory near the wren house (squirrels will eat wren babies, or any other avian young they can reach). Although the way we have situated the wren house is practically inaccessible to anyone but the wrens,  Mr. Wren was taking no chances. He had that young squirrel terrorized, a quarter-ounce of fury pecking at his head and tail, up and down and around the tree trunk. Finally the squirrel gathered enough of what wits he has to leave the territory, chased all the way by Mr. Wren. And yes, though we flatter ourselves that the wren house is inaccessible, we have seen Kitten Britches studying the house from the adjacent fencepost, protractor and abacus at hand to figure angles and distance. So this morning she is confined to the house because we see that Mr. and Mrs. Wren are encouraging their young to come out and try flight. Instead of flying in and out of the house delivering food, Mr. Wren goes to the opening and sings at the young inside, then perches nearby.

This went on all morning. This afternoon about 2:00 we noticed 3 wrens out flying around- one of the young had fledged! Now, 5 PM, we think all of them have fledged but haven’t been able to get a count. Kitten Britches is yelling at us because we won’t let her out.

Our shade garden is coming along