Joann Merritt's Essays

Just Lookin’ For A Home
July, 1996

Our resident Bewick’s Wrens are out of their gourd, literally. For several years a gourd in which Don had cut a small entrance hole had served as their home in the mulberry tree, but last year it began to crack and crumble. Don replaced it with a wooden birdhouse but after only a few twigs inside the wrens abandoned it.

Next they began constructing their nest under the domed cap that covers the gauges on top of our propane tank but abruptly left when the nest was only half finished. In June they chose the bottom corners of our garage door as building sites - first the east side, then the west side - a duplex. Our garage door is open most of the time which permits them ample time to build, but the door is closed at night or when we are gone so they have no access to these nests at those times.

In today’s vernacular they couldn’t be “out of their gourd” because when our garage door opens “their elevator goes all the way to the top!” If they will be patient we have gourds now growing on the vine and will gladly furnish them with a good selection of homes.