Sadness

For the last few weeks, my family has been watching a pair of Carolina wrens building a nest and feeding babies in a potted geranium on our deck.  We watched them build, then they seemed to disappear for about a week.  We wondered if they were on the nest, or if it was just a decoy, and the real nest was somewhere else.  Then they started bringing in food, taking turns bringing bugs to the babies.  Every time one of them came out, he (I think) would perch on the deck railing and belt out a song, before taking off in search of more bugs.  We managed to sneak a few peeks at the babies--they were very small and in a very dark nest, but we saw lots of pointed yellow beaks. 

Last night everything changed.  When we went into the kitchen this morning, we could see that the geranium pot had been knocked off the table, and the nest materials were scattered across the deck.   Apparently, a raccoon made a late-night raid.  There weren't even any little feathers left.  

I get the circle of life thing.  Really, I do.  But it broke my heart to see one of the parents come flying in with a bug in its mouth a few minutes later. 

I heard wrens singing in the back woods this afternoon.  They'll try again, someplace safer, I hope.  If we're lucky, they'll bring the babies to the birdbath in a few weeks, or feed them on the deck rail.