To attract small birds like wrens to your yard, you will want to provide them with plenty of places to find food, shelter and, nest-making supplies.
If you are an avid gardener, it’s quite easy to make sure the birds will be attracted to your yard.
House wrens received their name because they are naturally attracted to people’s homes and especially their gardens. But even a city dweller can attract wrens to their home by adding places for the birds to eat, drink, and build their nests.
What Do Wrens Eat?
The house wren’s diet consists mostly of insects. This includes beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, flies, moths, spiders, and even the occasional snail. Lush garden areas can be an excellent source of food since they attract plenty of insects for the birds to eat.
Trees and shrubs will also provide an excellent hunting ground for insects. The wrens will forage for insects in tall grasses, tree bark, and fallen leaves.
To increase the available food for your wrens, you can also add a mealworm feeder. The mealworm is a favorite of the wren and the chickadee.
Another way to attract wrens to your backyard is by providing plenty of water.
Wrens are thirsty birds, so adding a water feature or birdbath is a great way to invite the birds over and encourage them to stay.
Nesting Habits
Wrens build their nests from small twigs, plant material, animal hair, and even their own discarded feathers. The delicate twigs and grasses strewn across your landscape are a perfect source of materials for the wrens to build their nests.
Wrens prefer an area where there is plenty of shelter for them to hide from predators while they are out foraging. Shelter is provided in the form of trees, bushes, or man-made structures such as barns, sheds, or garages.
Did you know the male wren will build several nests nearby to let the female choose her location? He will then sing to the females and invite them to move in.
Experts suggest hanging three wren houses within 20-50 feet of each other. This will help to make your yard more attractive to males looking to build nests and offer plenty of options to potential mates.
Attracting Wrens to Your Yard
By creating a landscape with plenty of trees, bushes, and lush gardens, you will attract the birds and make it easy for them to make their home in your backyard. If you hang a few wren houses within your garden setting, you can make it even easier to attract nesting birds.
And since the wrens will return to the same nest year after year, once they have made your yard their home, you will be rewarded with these bubbly little songbirds year after year.