We are lucky enough to have a flock of House Sparrows that live in and around the garden. Since I’ve been watching them they’ve become one of my favourite garden birds – they are such little characters.
Recently, there’s been a lot of behaviour indicating that they’ve started nesting. I keep seeing Sparrows visit the feeders carrying a feather or other nesting material, which they put down to help themselves to a snack before continuing on their way. They are also regular customers at the nesting material holder I’ve put out.
Over winter, I deliberately don’t over tidy the garden. I prune anything that is particularly unruly but leave a lot of the ground cover vegetation in situ – thinking that it provides good cover for wildlife. Last year we planted a really pretty bronze sedge by the side of the big pond. The dead grass from last year’s growth has been there ever since and I was just starting to think about clearing it away when I noticed that there were Sparrows hovering around it, looking very interested.
Every so often one would grab a strand of grass, pull it out of the ground and fly off with it! I presume they are using it as nesting materials – but they are clearing the area so effectively they are like a mini clean-up crew!
Over the weekend I set up the trail cam to get a closer view –
These two Sparrows seem to be working as a team and arrive to collect grass at the same time. Of course this doesn’t always go according to plan – there you are, minding your own business and choosing the perfect strand of grass and what happens? Some rotter comes and steals it right out from under your beak!
Yorumlar