Prospect Park, 6/15/2021

Carolina wren, Prospect Park

Two Carolina wrens were gathering nesting material and ferrying it into and under a thick matt of ivy around a tree trunk; they seemed to be building a nest deep inside. Sometimes they had trouble remembering exactly where in the ivy their nascent nest was and hovered outside looking for their entry point. Their work was interrupted by a gray catbird (not, however, the one photographed below) that slammed into the ivy as if to uncover the nest or to disrupt the wrens’ work; I couldn’t figure out its intentions. Only one of the wrens was present during the intrusion; it fled and then loudly summoned its mate to a nearby branch, where they reconnoitred. They resumed their work briefly but then lay low, abandoning work on the nest at least temporarily.

Carolina wren, Prospect Park

Carolina wren, Prospect Park

Carolina wren, Prospect Park

Gray catbird, Prospect Park