bluebirds and house wrens

 We have had bluebirds in the back for probably 15 years. 

They are beautiful and I have become very attached to them. I feel their welfare in the birdhouse I have provided is partially my responsibility. For most of those 15 years, the bluebirds have nested successfully, having a couple of broods every summer. There have been some years when they have not been successful, and that has almost always been due to competition from other species, mostly sparrows and sometimes house wrens. I have come to hate those birds, everything about them.

This year has been one of those years when we have not had any baby bluebirds in the birdhouse. They started a nest, but were driven away by sparrows and ultimately the nest was taken over by house wrens. I started to empty the birdhouse of the nesting material brought there by the wrens. I didn't want them nesting there, but they are very persistent. I would empty it out and they would try to fill it back up. I even thought about taking the birdhouse down altogether. That would really show them.

But something happened. I won't bore you with the details, but I realized that the problem was really with the sparrows and not with the wrens. I think I can minimize sparrow activity in our back yard which should facilitate nesting for the bluebirds nest year. The bluebirds are the earliest arrivals in the spring and they should be all right moving forward. As far as the house wrens are concerned, their nesting this year shouldn't impact the bluebird's chances next year. I decided to stop emptying out the birdhouse every day. Live and let live seemed to be the proper course of action.

As I said earlier, I've always hated everything about sparrows and house wrens. The call of the house wren has always been especially aggravating to me. It seemed so shrill and jarring. It actually affected my ability to fully enjoy these precious days of summer. I noticed that when I stopped fighting with the house wrens, however, my hostile reaction to their calls went away. Instead of a hostile intrusion into my consciousness, it was just the call of a wild bird. The animus I had been experiencing had gone away.

This experience was a powerful lesson. I had always known that my "picking and choosing" of birds in the natural world was arbitrary and gratuitous, but I had always thought that it was basically harmless, like my animosity towards the Los Angeles Dodgers. But I was wrong. Indulging in anger has a negative impact first and foremost on he who is doing the indulging.

The Buddha said, "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world." My life with bluebirds and house wrens has given me a deeper insight into the wisdom of these words.