Forum home› Wildlife gardening

Sparrow rides

Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,576
in Wildlife gardening
Does anyone else have playful sparrows? We have two who hop on the top of a bamboo stem, and let it bend and carry them to the ground, and they will all always choose the feeder on a chain, which spins, over the static one. 
They're brilliant to watch! 
«1

Posts

  • pansyfacepansyface Posts: 22,742
    Yes, and the babies are being taught “how to be cute” now.🙂
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
    If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,856
    Ours are being taught how to do dust baths in my rose beds and perch and swing about on the bird feeders which hang from shepherd's crooks and an arty obelisk that proved useless for clematis.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,576
    @pansyface there's only a couple who do it, so I'll be able to see who their babies are if so! 

    🤣🤣 @Obelixx - brilliant!

    I'd be like that if I was a sparrow.. Jonathan Livingston Sparrow 😄
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,268
    We have so many here .Our house is called Sparrow House and if I leave my sitting room window open they come through in clouds of feathers and cheeping and hang on my voil curtains swinging about .It’s hilarious to witness .
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,576
    That's awesome!! 🤣
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,268
    Yes awesome and also a bit messy but it’s worth the mess for the fun factor 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,856
    My grandad used to sit in his garden chair and have sparrows feed from his hand, slightly cupped and the palm full of seed and robins that kept him company when he gardened.   I never had the time to develop that rapport when we got our first garden in Harrow in the early 80s as most of my time in it was weekends and spent making it grow.

    Belgian and French birds are very much more cautious.   They'll sit and wait and shout when the feeders need topping up and they also set up a different call when I go out to feed them but won't come close.  23 years in the Belgian garden and whilst the range of species increased and the numbers visiting soared, they didn't trust us.

    We have one colony here nesting under the tiled roof of the hen house and now they have all the straw and seed they could possibly wish for to make nests and feed themselves but they still scarper if I go in there whilst they're helping themselves.   We've been here over 5 years now.  I reckon another 25 are needed to have a hopping robin.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,576
    edited July 2022
    @bcpathome Yes I'd put up with it to have them too! 
    Could you get a photo/video of them? I'd love to see that!
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,576
    Obelixx that's lovely! My dad always had his breakfast outside, and the sparrows would eat bits of cornflakes and cheese at his feet (he didn't have cornflakes and cheese for breakfast 😄) and the blackbird would sit on the kitchen floor and shout at him. 
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,268
    I’ll have a go at capturing it but as I don’t have a mobile phone not sure how to do it .
Sign In or Register to comment.