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Submitted By
Brenda Bartkovich
Norwood, MA, USA
Description
I’m not sure if this is an active nest. This is all new to me! I just saw on my outside camera a lot of birds acting very different and like they were on a mission! It looked like they were flying into my house and panicking. I later saw my mailman look very stumped when he went to deliver my mail and then saw him look in my mailbox like he was very confused! Which got me wondering what is going on out there! And I went to look and found this!
So please help me! Is this a birds nest? If so, is it active? Are they getting it ready?
Now today I saw a crow over there!
Category
Confused And Unsure
That looks like a Carolina Wren nest. They like to make nests in human things like that. We have one in our playset and one in a propane tank under our deck. Check this out:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Carolina_Wren
My advice is to keep a respectful distance from the nest but also keep an eye out for adult bird activity. Also, you might want to put a sign on the mailbox saying ‘please do not disturb’, because if it is an active nest, the parents will abandon it there is too much activity going on nearby.
Since Carolina Wrens will use the same nest year after year, you might want to think about putting out another mailbox (farther away from this one).
Hi Brenda, Yes, this is a Carolina Wren nest as HeartForNature mentioned. It’s probably best to set up another receptacle for mail while this nest is is progress. Carolina Wrens typically incubate for 12-16 days and then brood young for another 10-16 days before they fledge – so young may fledge form this nest in about another month or so – perhaps slightly longer if the eggs have not been laid yet. Once the young fledge, you may wish to clean the mailbox out and add a flap/top to the mailbox to help block them from returning to nest – they will easily find another place nearby for future broods.
If you clean out the nest and block any entrances, you could build a Carolina Wren Nestbox:
https://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/birds/carolina-wren/
That is a Carolina wren nest,that happened to us,they nested in the newspaper box,while a other nest was active in our birdhouse,sadly this failed.