Mockingbird and Carolina Wren Similarities

     Northern mockingbirds and Carolina wrens, though unrelated, have several characteristics in common, which reflects the habitat they share.  Both species are from farther south in the United States, but have moved north in recent years, including to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the mockers mostly in the 1950's and the wrens around the 1980's.  And each species is a permanent resident wherever they are, meaning they hatch, live and die in the same area.  Both species nest in thickets in bottomland hedgerows and woodland edges, and older suburban areas with lots of shrubbery.  Males of each kind, especially the wrens, sing most any time of year.  Both species are attractive in camouflaged ways and both are aggressive in their daily habits, often letting their presence be known.  Both have long tails they wag about as signals to others of their respective species.  Both eat invertebrates during warmer months when those critters are available.  And both species occasionally visit bird feeders to pick at the grain.  Though at present they do not regularly consume seeds or grain, they may in the future, especially if their beaks thicken a bit to better handle that food.
     But both of these species also have traits that set them apart.  Mockers are gray with white wing patches that are noticeable when they fly or raise their wings as a communication while on the ground or a perch.  Males of this species sometimes sing at night in summer.  In winter, mockers mostly eat a variety of berries.  They defend patches of berries from all comers, including starlings, cedar waxwings and American robins.
     Female mockers build nurseries of twigs, rootlets and grass in impenetrable shrubbery.  There young mockers are relatively safe from crows, cats, black rat snakes and other predators.    
     Mockingbirds are in the mimidae family, which includes gray catbirds and several types of thrashers.  Mockers and catbirds imitate sounds they hear, including the songs of other kinds of birds.  Sometimes we think we hear the songs of a few kinds of birds at once, only to discover later that we were listening to a mocker or catbird. 
     Carolina wrens have a warm-brown plumage with a white line of feathers over each eye.  This species actively skulks on the ground under shrubbery and flits through bushes after invertebrate prey the year around.  When snow is on the ground they scratch for invertebrates under fallen trees and limbs where the ground is still bare.  And these wrens eat some berries in winter, as well.
     Carolina wrens build nests in a variety of sheltered places, both natural and human-made.  They often make twig cradles in stone walls and brush piles where their babies are relatively safe from predators except shrews and certain kinds of snakes.
     The list of human-made structures where Carolina wrens hatch babies is long and interesting.  They are only interested in sheltering their chicks, not if the cover is natural or not.  They may build their nurseries under a deck, among stuff stored in tool sheds, or in clothes pin bags or a pocket on a wash line.  A pair of them in our neighborhood one year reared offspring in a cooking grill left on a lawn.  I discovered their nesting place by seeing the parents constantly going into the grill with insects and coming out with white fecal sacs from their youngsters.
     Northern mockingbirds and Carolina wrens are interesting birds to have in a back yard.  They are adaptable and have characteristics and songs that demand our attention.