Saturday 6 August 2011

A Sheepdog With Wings

Unfortunately there are no photos to go with this. It started early this morning as we returned from our walk. As I entered the gate I could hear a House Sparrow giving his alarm call. A male was sat on the woodwork nearby and as I walked past the corkscrew hazel I spotted a young sparrow on the ground. Papa was warning me to keep away, which I duly did.

Later in the morning while I was carrying out a bit of much needed pruning I saw a male House Sparrow with a couple of youngsters on the lane. The youngsters were hardly able to flutter their wings let alone fly and the male was behaving just like a sheepdog, weaving back and forth behind them as it ushered them across the road to shelter under the hedge on the opposite side of the road. A behaviour I have never seen before. Many parent birds will call to their youngsters to get them to move but this fellow was definitely gently forcing the young ones in the direction he wanted.

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know that about sparrows. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Amazing what one sees.. I've never noticed them doing that either.

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  3. Fascinating behaviour John. Something I've never seen before; the calling, yes, but not moving them along.

    Waterfowl do it, so I suppose no reason for other birds to do it too.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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