I had to leave the studio door open one night because I was firing the kiln. The next day I didn't get out to the studio until after lunch. By then the nest was halfway built and I didn't have the heart to just lock them out. The male and the female took turns screeching at me and coming in with bits of twigs and pollen and in one day had finished the nest.
I didn't hear or see anything for the next few days so I assumed that they didn't like my presence and had abandoned the nest. I was so sure of it that one night I locked the door. Bad idea! The next day, the wren flew out as soon as the door was opened and there were all manner of things on the floor: boxes of sitter cones strewn about, small jars of underglaze... and, of course, bird poop all over.
So the door stays open. Today, a couple of beady eyes with a white stripe over them were peeking out at me from inside the nest. The white stripe over the eye means that it's a Carolina wren. So now it's been about a week so I expect that the eggs will hatch in another week or so. Then it takes the babies a couple of weeks to fledge.The bad news is that I don't think I'll be firing the kiln until the baby birds are gone.
