Carolina Wren

The Carolina wren stays in southern Massachusetts year round, although sightings fall off even a dozen miles north of Sheffield. This perky brown bird actively hunts for small bugs, even on sunny winter days, and readily comes to sunflower seed feeders in the absence of meat. Reportedly sensitive to cold, their populations crashed in the 1970s, when Time and Newsweek were reporting a coming ice age as a consequence of several cold winters then.

Now that temperatures have rewarmed, the bird revisits old haunts, raising up to three broods of young a summer and repopulating the area. Of course, today many bird lovers provide abundant winter food as well, perhaps helping to support more of the feisty birds as temperatures once again turn colder.