Birds

Cooperative and Curious Carolina Wren

March 13, 2012 by Corey 11 Comments

At the tail end of my birding expedition today I was fortunate enough to have a close encounter with an extremely confiding,Carolina Wren at Forest Park cooperative, and curious Carolina Wren. I had just arrived at the water hole at Forest Park and was sitting on a log watching White-throated Sparrows forage in the leaves when the wren flew in and landed next to the log to my right. I quickly swung my leg over the log so I was straddling the log facing the bird and snapped a quick shot before it scurried under the log. I silently cursed myself for my sudden movement that I was sure had spooked the bird and ruined a perfectly good photo opportunity. Then the bird jumped up on the log not two meters away and proceeded to pose, which is how I got the picture on the right which I know you really want to click.

But that was just the start of my experience with this wonderful little wren. It jumped up on a stick and posed, ran up the log towards me so quickly I couldn’t keep it in focus, perched and posed on a smaller log that was next to me, and then flew off to chase away a White-throated Sparrow. Then it flew back to another small log near me and posed some more! I think this particular Carolina Wren wanted to be made famous on 10,000 Birds!

Carolina Wren at Forest Park

just before it scurried under the log

Carolina Wren posing on a stick

on a stick not two meters away

Carolina Wren close-up

last shot before it ran towards me and I lost focus

Carolina Wren posing on another log

posing on another nearby log

another close-up

another close-up shot

Carolina Wren rear-view

Carolina Wren rear-view

Carolina Wren

And don’t worry, I’ll do a full post about the birding I did before coming across the Carolina Wren soon…so make sure you come back!

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This post was originally published on 15 March 2008, but we hate to keep posts this good buried in the archives!

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Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.