Our little house wrens left their nest this morning.

We were on our deck with our second cup of coffee this morning on the first cool, sunny and dry morning that we have had here for a long time.  We could hear the high school marching band practicing and reminisced about the years we enjoyed working with music and athletic booster clubs when our children were in school.  Those were wonderful years, but now we’re enjoying these “empty nest” years as well.  At about 9:00 a.m. a little wren poked its head out of the hole in its swinging home which dangles from a tree near our house, looked around for a few seconds,  and took off for the nearest perch, which happened to be our deck.  Camera time.

We watched as numbers 2, 3 and 4 quickly followed the little leader.  By 9:15 all 4 had appeared at their door and flown from the safety of their nest to the nearby cover of our woods.  It was a delightful 15 minutes.  We have had wrens nesting here for many years but never before have we witnessed the “fledging”.

May I have just one more meal before I leave home?

The first flights of the little wrens reminded us that our lives are full of “fledgings” this year:  a granddaughter heading off to college for her first year; three granddaughters and a grandson starting high school; a grandson and a granddaughter starting kindergarten; and a brand new grandchild scheduled to see the light of day for the first time in two weeks.  So many wings being tried for the first time this year.