On a bright, sunny day in late spring I happened to look out the window to my back yard, where I saw a wren. He was perched on a lower branch of a nearby tree, singing his heart out. He sat there for a little while, and then he was gone. As always, I was glad to have seen him. I had put up a bird feeder near the tree to attract birds during the winter, and into the spring. I had also put a small birdhouse that would be suitable for wrens, in the crotch of the tree. The birdhouse was still unoccupied, and I had no hope of its being used, as I thought it was late in the season for nesting.

Later on that day I heard the intriguing sound of the wren once more, and went back to the window to watch. His chatterbox song stopped. He left the branch where he had been singing. He did not fly away, but dropped to the ground nearby, and looked around. He picked up a dried blade if grass, then another and yet another. To my surprise and delight he took them to the birdhouse and went inside. A moment later he emerged and flew back to his favorite branch and began his chatterbox song all over again. He repeated the song a few times before he once again dropped to the ground for more grass and tiny twigs. It was indeed fascinating to watch him. I could have watched for hours, but I had other things to do. Nevertheless, I know he continued his mission, for I could hear his song. When his song stopped after a while, I figured he had knocked off for the day. After all, a guy has to eat to keep up his strength.

The next day my little friend was back at his task, gathering his building materials and stopping after each load to do a lot of bragging about it. I thought that here was an individual who was extremely happy in his work. Wouldn’t it be nice if everybody could be like him? Despite this apparent enjoyment of his work he soon left the building site. A few hours later he was back at work, stopping to brag about his accomplishments as loudly as ever.

All this made me wonder about this whole drill. Where was his mate? I thought birds cooperated in building their nest. If not, was she just hanging out somewhere, just watching to see that he did the job right? If that were the case wouldn’t she come in to inspect it now and then? No. The truth had to be that he had no mate; that he was indeed a bachelor wren. He must be singing his chatterbox song to try to lure a pretty female wren to claim a new home. And what of his periodic times away? Was he singing his “come, look what I have” in other likely places? Perhaps he was building a nest in a second location. Don’t realtors stress location as a prime requisite? He could have been working on more than one other.

The chatterbox wren continued his gathering and singing for a week before he finally gave up. Or did he? He wouldn’t show up if he’d found success at another site. The answer to my question remains a mystery to this day, and always shall. Nevertheless, a bird that demonstrated so much ambition would not be a bachelor all his life. An early start the next year, perhaps?