Nancy Collins

In this area, wrens are the easiest bird to attract. They may already be in your yard, in fact. I’m talking about the kinds of wren native to North Texas, not the house wren that has inundated many other areas. Inviting wrens into your landscape is relatively simple, because they’re often attracted by the way we live.

Our native wrens are the Carolina wren and the Bewick’s wren.

They look similar, but the Bewick’s, pronounced “Buick,” is gray, not tan. They’re both slightly huskier than other wrens, and probably won’t be able to get in a “one-size-fits-all” birdhouse.

Photos courtesy of Wild Bird Center of Denton

Native wrens don’t often fit into a one-size-fits-all birdhouse. They will, however, move into hanging plants and decorative hangings outside. If a family of wrens moves into a hanging plant at your house, water it by setting ice cubes in the basket. It waters the plant but doesn’t flood the fledglings.

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Their tails tilt upward (unlike most birds) and they flit about nervously, as if they’ve had too much caffeine.

Wrens have shared living space with humans for ages. They’ve learned to use our houses, garages, vehicles and tools as homes and breeding places, although they prefer old woodpecker holes, birdhouses or a dark natural cavity.

If nothing else is available, they’ll construct their own home – a globular cave of sticks, grasses and leaves with a small entry hole on the side.

They’ll make their nests in unusual, unlikely places.

Last year, a wren built a nest in a hanging basket. Until the nestlings fledged, we watered the basket with ice cubes. They melted slowly enough not to soak the nest.

It’s not just housing that attracts them. It’s also the countless spiders and other insects found in the exterior nooks and crannies of all homes. These insects are their main food supply — wrens rarely eat seed. Their slender bill is slightly curved, enabling them to grab and retrieve food that’s beyond the reach of most other birds.

Photos courtesy of Wild Bird Center of Denton

The curved beak of the wren helps the bird nab spiders, crickets and all manner of insects that other birds can’t reach. Wrens don’t eat seeds, so attracting them to your yard can be as easy as avoiding pesticides so that they can feast on bugs.

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Of course, some of us are better at attracting wrens than others. For example: if you spend hours manicuring and weeding your yard and spraying for bugs (or having it done), you probably aren’t inviting wrens. However, if you let brush piles accumulate and let vegetation grow naturally, you can almost certainly attract wrens — no matter if your lot is big or small.

That’s the first key to attracting wrens, having plenty of nest-building material around. Small twigs, long grasses and even fur from brushing a family pet. In this area, native grasses that stand at least a foot tall, coral honeysuckle and holly shrubs work nicely.

The second key is a brush pile — just a random mound of branches with lots of “cubby holes” on the inside. In the winter, it’s a comparatively warm and sheltered place to “roost” during bad weather. A brush pile provides safety throughout the year from the many animals that would like to have a wren for dinner. Brush piles also encourage the growth of some insects, which wrens keep under control as they dine.

Water is also essential throughout the year. A shallow birdbath, with a depth of 2 inches at most, is ideal. Wrens like to poke around among the leaves at the edge of shallow bodies of water — that’s where the insects and tiny snails are. A bit of “messy” vegetation on the ground near a birdbath simulates this. Since most yards around here aren’t completely free of debris, they make ideal homes for our wrens.

Nancy Collinsis a Denton resident, a Master Naturalist and co-owner of Denton’s Wild Bird Center. She is an avid watcher and feeder of wild birds (and a few squirrels), a member of the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, National Wildlife Federation, the National Wildlife Rehabilitators’ Associ­ation and Native Plant Society of Texas. She can be reached by calling 940-484-BIRD (2473) or by e-mailing denton@wildbird.com .