On Saturday I realized the constant yelling of the Carolina Wren parents wasn’t happening, so Sunday when I changed the water in the bird bath I checked the nest. Sure enough: empty.

Carolina Wrens’ “nestling period” is 10-16 days, which I hadn’t looked up earlier or I probably would have kept a better eye on the backyard. Now I’ll never know if I missed them fledging, or if a predator got them. I’m going to hope for the former, but I sort of would have expected the family to still be around, and the backyard has been eerily quiet.