Clarice, I've known of several cats who have killed birds, played with
them until they are dead, and leave them laying wherever the fun was over.
Wrens do destroy other nests and eggs,maybe even youg, but not other adult
wrens. I think the wren who is known for this, however is the marsh wren;
who builds lots of nests; to to deceive the other wrens. The marsh wren also
destroys redwing blackbird nests as well. What a spunky character!!!!!!. You
could have also had a squirrel going after the eggs, or raccoon, but I would
expect the raccoon to eat the nesting bird as well.......
....vicki biltz, bonney lake sawwhet85b at netscape.net


I, too, had a Bewick's wren nest in a styrofoam faucet cover--only I didn't
know it
until I took the cover off to use the hose [to wash the bird bath]. The 5
eggs
fell to the ground, but since they were only 2-3 feet above the ground, they
did
not break. I put the eggs back into the nest, and moved the whole affair over
and
up about 2 feet each . The female came back, scolding, but would not sit in
the
nest. I, of course, was upset. I believe that I may put a styrofoam cover
up
next winter just for her use, and use a different kind of cover for the
faucets--I
have never had a Bewick's wren nest in my yard before--how I love the male's
bubbly
song, and I enjoy knowing that a wren is claiming the territory.


Chris Southwick
north Seattle
chriss at micronics.net

"mail to:jbroadus at seanet.com" wrote:

> Saturday I found a dead Bewick's wren about two feet from a predated nest.
> The wren had a wound on it's back but was other wise intact.
> The nest was build inside a faucet cover made of styrofoam- one of the boob
> shaped kind, over a hose bib about two feet off the ground. It had been
> pulled away and one egg was broken, but there are still four cream colored
> ones intact.
> The nest is quite the urban affair. The base layer is the pink insulation
> material we filled the cover with, then grass, plastic, dog hair and
feathers.
> We took the nest out and took off the cover because it was obviously note a
> good choice of homesites.
>
> Question #1 is: if the predator
> was a cat, why didn't it eat the wren, or at least carry it away?
>
> Question # 2 is: I have read that wren will attack other birds nests - was
the
> wren the predator and this was someone else's nest?
>
> Clarice Clark
> Puyallup, WA. 98371
> mailto:jbroadus at seanet.com


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