Blue Wrens...

When I first came to town I purchased a 10 acre block of land just out of town with a little creek and a long history. The block had a very small, old house on it that burnt down many years ago. Un-occupied for so long the land is home to kangaroo's, echidnas, snakes and a multitude of bird species sustained by the trees, insects, grasses and regular supply of water.

The land near the creek has a small orchard with very old fruit trees on it. Pears, plums, quinces and fig trees have grown untended for such a long time. Generations of silver eyes have feasted on the figs each year and parrots pick at the pears each season. Of all the birds it's the Superb Fairy-wren I like the best.

Each summer small families of the bird "hippity hop" through the grasses around the fruit trees searching for insects. Only the dominant male is blue with the remainder of the females and immature males being a drab brown/grey. They nest near the ground in the blackberry thickets on the creek and in the remnants of an old, fallen fruit tree in the middle of the orchard.

I miss the lazy afternoons/evenings in the summer watching the little wren families scuttering about on their daily business. It is the colder months that keep me away from the block of land that (finances permitting) I wish one day to build and make my home. A home with the trees, animals and fairy wrens...