Carolina Wren in seeming overnight torpor
During a particularly cold stretch of winter weather in February 2004, I discovered a pair of Carolina Wrens spending the night in my garage in a state of seeming torpor. The birds can enter the garage (and have nested on shelves there in the past) through a hole chewed by mice or chipmunks through the rubber seal in a bottom corner of the overhead door.
I originally discovered the wrens completely by accident when a "puff" of feathers with a tail was seen in the scrunched-up, twist-tied end of a black plastic bag covering a piece of luggage. They were seen there several nights, but later moved to a sweatshirt loosely piled on an open shelf. Normally, the back of a Carolina Wren appears to be a plain rusty color. As you can see in these photos, their puffed up feathers have white spots that give them an entirely different appearance. When in this state, there were completely "dead to the world" and did not move or fly at all, and did not react to lights or noise. I could move around and work in the garage, and they would stay in this motionless state.
I saw them in the garage like this several times over a period of about two weeks. During that time, overnight temperatures outdoors were around zero. Our furnace is in the garage, and it never gets below the 40's in there at night. So even in this relatively "warm" place, the wrens went into a deep state of sleep or torpor. I wonder if they do this year around or only when it gets very cold.
This photo is a scan from a slide taken during February 2004.
Carolina Wren in seeming overnight torpor
During a particularly cold stretch of winter weather in February 2004, I discovered a pair of Carolina Wrens spending the night in my garage in a state of seeming torpor. The birds can enter the garage (and have nested on shelves there in the past) through a hole chewed by mice or chipmunks through the rubber seal in a bottom corner of the overhead door.
I originally discovered the wrens completely by accident when a "puff" of feathers with a tail was seen in the scrunched-up, twist-tied end of a black plastic bag covering a piece of luggage. They were seen there several nights, but later moved to a sweatshirt loosely piled on an open shelf. Normally, the back of a Carolina Wren appears to be a plain rusty color. As you can see in these photos, their puffed up feathers have white spots that give them an entirely different appearance. When in this state, there were completely "dead to the world" and did not move or fly at all, and did not react to lights or noise. I could move around and work in the garage, and they would stay in this motionless state.
I saw them in the garage like this several times over a period of about two weeks. During that time, overnight temperatures outdoors were around zero. Our furnace is in the garage, and it never gets below the 40's in there at night. So even in this relatively "warm" place, the wrens went into a deep state of sleep or torpor. I wonder if they do this year around or only when it gets very cold.
This photo is a scan from a slide taken during February 2004.