Wren Nest

A nest of a Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris). About the size of a softball, made of woven reeds, with a side-entrance usually facing south. Males may build up to half a dozen partially completed nests in a courting area of territory before females arrive in the spring. A female who choses a particular mate/nest will complete the nest by lining it with grasses, feathers, and rootlets. The males can be polygamous (might as well put some of those other nests to work). This was next to a parking lot for a boat launch on Cape May. Nearby there were three other nests.

I saw my first specimen of this bird in Marine Park. It’s more common to hear them; the males are voluble within the reeds. Here’s one I barely managed to photography at Brooklyn Bridge Park this past May.