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Wren rips pitchers

Thagirion

Budgies are best
I had this happen last year and thought I'd share. I used to leave my patio door open because I was building a coop for my chickens. I'd raised the chickens indoors as babies, and they had nests on the patio and would come in at night to sleep there. The food and water was there so they could come in from the rain. So I had to leave the screen door open. I noticed after a while that my pitchers had rips and didn't know what was happening until I finally caught the culprit. It was a Carolina Wren that would come and go as he pleased. He would steal the bugs the pitchers had caught by ripping them and getting them out. I had mixed feelings about this because I love birds as much as I love nepenthes. I was concerned about him being in the miranda since he could fall in the pitchers and I won't let that happen either. Anything else yes, but not birds. But this guy was very confident and agile. He ate the spiders on the walls, investigated my bird cages and even killed a Sphinx Moth I didn't know was inside as well. Another thing I love. I raise Sphinx Moths. Here's the video.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ii92hPR_IhA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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That's bittersweet, Thag. I also love birds and would probably just go along with it if I had one screwing with my pitchers outdoors, but since it's inside, you may want to scare him... too many parasites on wild birds. At least he's not an invasive species, though.


Anyway, to embed videos from youtube, I like to just right-click on the video and select "copy embed html," and then paste it in the post.
 
Yeah, it was nice to have him visit but not for those reasons. I'm ready to put some of my plants outside again this year but now I may not be able to if I have destructive wrens like tht around. I hate to think that even though I have good outdoor growing conditions I'll still have to build a structure to keep the plants safe. We'll see how it goes. Yes, at lest he's a native species. Perhaps a mealworm feeder would keep him out of my plants since that's easier than working to get bugs out of a pitcher.

Ok, I didn't think just pasting it would work since it wasn't BB code. I'll expermiment with it and give it a try. Thanks.
 
cool,i like wrens
 
Thanks. I do too. They have attitude.
 
I don't know if I could be quite so kind. Tearing up my plants is the moral equivalent of fighting words!:)
 
Anything else and it would have been all out war, but am a bird lover first and foremost. Been breeding birds for a very long time too and love them all even when they make me mad. Not long after this though, it was really trying my patience, I made a make shift chicken box and moved all the girls outside so I could close the patio door. No more wrens inside now.
 
Yeah I agree with pearldiver... That birdy would have been cat food if those were my Neps!

But I understand why you didn't, if you like them and all.
 
Well it wasn't like I sat there and did nothing. This was hard as it involved three life forms I'm pationate about, the neps of course, avians and sphinx moths all in conflict with each other. The bird came out on top. I raise sphinx moths so I know one day I'm going to find one in a pitcher and I won't be happy about that either. But it's ok. This is what nature does usually I'm very unbiased but in this case it was frustrating. But getting the chickens out so I could close the door was the best move. No more moths and birds in the patio. Wild birds anyway hehe.
 
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Clever little punk.
You would love my new job. I'm a photographer in a lorikeet aviary.
 
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He was. I'm still surprised he figured it out when there aren't that many other nepenths are around for him to know what they are. I'm still amazed he knew what to do. Though he probably just saw the bugs inside as birds have incredible eye sight.

I have worked for a few avicultural jobs including zoo keeper. I am not a people person and I hated the lorikeet aviary the few times they gave me the camera and encouraged me to sell polaroid photos to familes who were already carrying cameras. Luckily I didn't do that much and my main duties were feeding and cleaning behind the scenes of other bird cages. That was wonderful. Now I work with my own birds at home.
 
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