Although not technically a “bluebirder,”, Althea Sherman was a citizen scientist and self-taught ornithologist. Born in National, Iowa in 1853, she attended Upper Iowa University and received her degree as an art teacher. She became particularly interested in bird behavior. She published over 70 articles on 38 species in scientific and ornithological journals. Fred J. Pierce publis hed Sherman’s book Birds of an Iowa Dooryard posthumously, with publication limited to 1500 copies, and her work was included in Arthur Cleveland Bent’s treatise Life Histories of North American Birds.[4]
Although she was self-taught in the area of bird research, she did pioneering work in the study of the life-styles of several bird species and became nationally and internationally known for her studies. Seventy years later, much of her work is considered to be the most complete research compiled on several bird species.
Althea Sherman’s research on wrens is particularly interesting. Wrens are often a serious problem on a bluebird trail. . However, little attention has been given to how the overpopulation of wrens is affecting many other songbird species that nest and feed in our backyards, including Bewick’s Wrens.
Adapted from Barbara Boyle’s article, The Great Wren Debate Revisited.
House Wren Nesting Timetable: See House Wren Biology
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House wren nest, eggs and young photos (Sialis.org)
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House Wren (ID and song)
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House Wren – info, song, description from Cornell website
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House Wren by Lisa Mitchell
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House Wren, AC Bent’s Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds
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Wren species ID (E-Nature)
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Down with the House Wren Boxes by Althea Sherman
- Althea Sherman
- House Wrens – another perspective
- 1996 Experiments with Wren Guards by Bob Orthwein
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House Wrens and open-topped nest boxes by Kevin Berner
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Bluebird_L discussion on Problems with House Wrens on Bluebird Trails
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Article by Karen Lippy in defense of House Wrens
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Wrens – Pennsylvania Game Commission
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Wren maneuvering a stick into a box (video clip – The Bluebird Nut) and audio files of song and chatter.
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House Wren song recorded by Cher Layton, The Bluebird Nut
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Dummy and Abandoned Nests, Sialis.org
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Nest and Egg ID (with links to species biology and photos of nests, eggs and young) for other small cavity nesters
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Forest fragmentation – impacts, our Better Nature
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Selection of Nest Boxes by Wrens, McCabe, Robert, July 1961, Dept. of Forestry and Wildlife Management, University of Wisconsin, published in Condor, Vol.63, p. 322-329, retrieved from https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v063n04/p0322-p0329.pdf
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Belles-Isles, J.C., and J. Picman. 1986. House Wren nest-destroying behavior. Condor 88: 190-193.
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Pribil S. and J. Picman, 1992. Why House Wrens destroy clutches of other birds: a support for the nest site competition hypothesis. Condor 93: 184-185.
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Pribil S., date? An Effective Trap for the House Wren, North American Bird Bander, Vol.22, No.1, p. 6 – 9
- Sherman, Althea R. “The Old Ornithology and the New.” The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 42, no. 1, Wilson Ornithological Society, 1930, pp. 3–10.
There are people who deny that the earth is round, and there are other people who deny that the house wren is a bad bird.
– Althea Sherman
