Strange, isn't it, how you can be 'blind' to some common species? Our front garden hedge is always full of a noisy flock of sparrows and they quite often wake me up in the morning when they sit on the gutter and chirrup, but I think I've only ever photographed a house sparrow once, and then only because of a curious bit of insect behaviour.
Maybe it's because they were just too common to appreciate in their own right, always there, and there was always something else interesting and less familiar to point a lens at.
But they really are very handsome little birds, even when they are in the middle of the breeding season, as this one was, and looking a bit scruffy. And just look at that beak - I've got a pair of pliers like that in my toolbox. There are flocks of sparrows in the wheat fields around here right now, using that well-adapted piece of equipment to shred the cereal seed heads.
What really made me look at sparrows more closely was the arrival of a tree sparrow on our bird table last winter. It was gone before I could reach my camera but, even amongst the more colourful finches, its plumage was striking and I realised then that I had never knowingly really looked a tree sparrow before. So since then I've been on the lookout for them.
This harassed looking example was taking a break from feeding fledglings ......
.... revealing that lovely chestnut crown, black cheek patch and white neck ring ....
Posts
