I'd only seen (emphasis on SEEN) a Wrentit once before, although I've heard them many times. Their habitat is deep in dense, often thorny shrubs (think bramble thickets) where pairs of them (they're lifelong monogamous) keep track of one another by constantly calling. Their call sounds like a falling ping-pong ball (dink ... dink ... dink dink dididididididi). I had turned down a gravel road towards the Gualala River, a road I'd passed many times but never explored. Just as I parked the car, I thought I heard a Wrentit. Then it went silent. The only birds I saw were a couple of Turkey Vultures sailing overhead, so I was about to turn back and try the park across the river but decided first to listen to a Wrentit recording just to confirm that was what I had heard. I was pretty sure it was, so then I played the recording out loud once to see if I got a response. Nope. Silence. I was just about to get back in my car when I saw a bird moving in the shrubs beside me ... as in RIGHT beside me! There they were, a pair of them, checking me out: "Hmmm. That's no Wrentit! Why did that human sound like a Wrentit?" They were quite bold, hopping here and there just a couple arms' lengths away and staying on the outer edges of the shrub thicket, clearly watching me. I may post more shots later. Meanwhile, another pair were calling to each other further off towards the river. I may have to go back there next visit and try for more Wrentit shots.
Well, that's it for now. Don't know if I'll have time to post again before I get back from Spain, but when I do I can post the bird-themed quilt I made that I just turned in to the national quilt league's annual competition. Can't share images of it until after this weekend as the judging has to be "blind" as to who made what.
