Wandering Aimlessly

The House Wren
by Phil Burkhouse

It was the summer of 1976, and Mary, Julie, and I moved from the city life in downtown Emporium to the isolated country life of West Creek. Jessie had yet to put in an appearance, and so the three of us settled into our new house on the edge of the Big Woods.
I was already somewhat of a birdbrain, but I was still in my developmental stage with a lot to learn. I was working in the yard one morning when a very abrasive, loud, and energetic batch of bird notes filled my auditory canals. The song was repeated often, was quite close, and sounded to be eminating from a bird with large vocal chords, perhaps the size of a crow. My eyes diligently searched the brushy area for the location of the large songster, but I could not locate it. As I neared the vicinity of the song, a very small brownish bird flushed and dove into thick cover. I didn’t think so much noise could be produced by such a small bird, but as I said, I had a lot to learn about birds.

One Comment

  1. Rachel Hoffman says:

    Phil, I too have heard these little birds with the loud chorus that visit my deck mornings for their drink of water from the flower pots.

    From Virginia…….

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