The little ones arrived yesterday (June 18) at about one in the afternoon!

See his eye? This little guy is fewer than twenty-four hours old!

I came downstairs to get a bottled water, and I saw the female Carolina wren perched on top of the nest box, chirping furiously—calling her mate. When he didn’t come, she jumped off her post and scurried all over the porch and railing with a sense of urgency, trilling her head off, making her way toward the woods.

I knew the eggs had hatched.

I went outside and peered into the untended nest box to confirm my suspicion. I didn’t see the eggs, and it was dark, but I didn’t want to shine a light in there. But then—I saw a little squirming thing that looked like a tiny piece of raw chicken take a breath. I was right!! We had babies!

I didn’t get a photo yesterday, as they had been out of the eggs for fewer than five minutes. I knew I’d have to shine a little light on them in order to get the photo and I’m sure emerging from an egg is traumatizing enough.

This morning I went outside to get a photo, but it was cold and windy (like late October cold and windy), and I found Mommy sitting on them to keep them warm (they won’t have full-blown feathers for a while). Here she is, giving me the stare of death.

DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER, YOU B—.

I’m really happy this nest was successful. It was a little dicey for us, since the birds had chosen a rather precarious place for a home—the inside of one of our grill covers that had been tossed on a chair. One good Connecticut storm? And that was gone.

So, on the way home from seeing Jurassic World: Dominion, we stopped and got a box in which to relocate the nest. Nathan did his best – and yes, as far as we know that whole thing of messing with the nest and moving eggs is an old wives’ tale (this is not his first rodeo).

Nathan installs the nest in a more stable, safe box.

Watch Nathan transfer the nest here:

We left them there and came back an hour later. Apparently, they were not happy and chose to do some redecorating. They took the eggs out of the nest, and for a minute, we thought maybe all was lost. But a bit later, we went to check on them again, and the eggs were back inside.

Wow. I can’t even imagine them moving these completely out of the nest. It must have been a job!

In the ensuing days, we saw Mommy sitting on the eggs quite frequently, so we had high hopes, and it looks like we didn’t hope in vain!

Charles went out to check on the nest on June 16. Mommy was watching! Look inside and you can see her eye inside the white stripe.

Babies face many challenges—and we also can’t dig into the nest to see how MANY actually made it. In a little clutch of four like that, if two to three survive, that’s awesome. Usually at least one isn’t viable. But we know right now there are at least two, and we hope they will fledge successfully!