Annalia S.'s photos with the keyword: sparrow

The botanical garden was not open on Friday when I had a free hour I would have loved to spend there. It's open only twice a week these days ... :( But, then, some visitors don't have to worry about opening times and getting a ticket :))) (No, I didn't jump the fence ... Shot this between the fence bars)

A young sparrow takes advantage of our home-made bird feeder hanging from a tree branch outside a window. Hidden by the blinds, I was able to take this close up without scaring it off, but the camera's clicking sound still made it a bit wary. The feeder has had to be "fenced" to prevent pigeons from raiding it and leaving nothing for the smaller birds. In fact, it took three successive adaptations to finally succeed in foiling the clever strategies that one particular pigeon (which my husband nicknamed "the Engineer") kept coming up with to get to the food despite the protective net: for example, he would use his body weight to weigh down one side, causing the grains and seed to slide to the edge, where he could pick them out by craning his neck in through the net, all while hanging on to the rim with his feet and keeping himself airborne by fluttering his wings... I think my husband was half entertained half ticked off to be twice outsmarted by this clever fellow :D The third design, however, finally worked out. The Engineer still studied it for a while, tried various approaches, but eventually admitted defeat and went looking for more accessible food sources. HFF everyone! May you outsmart any form of pervicacious "engineers" out there that may be barring your way to an enjoyable weekend!

While walking in the garden, I dislodged a stick, which in turn sent some little creature scurrying away among the dried leaves. It was so well camouflaged and so well hidden that it took me a while to actually "see" it was a little sparrow trying to hide by one of my potted plants. It obviously could not fly, but I didn't see any visible injuries, so I thought it might be de-hydrated. I put out a small dish filled with water for it and left it alone, hoping it would drink up and recover. A few hours later, however, we found its lifeless little body keeled over. It is the second dead sparrow we find in just a few days and I wonder what killed them since neither seemed injured or old or malnourished. Birds can fall prey to predators, of course, or die from old age and a host of other natural causes, just like the rest of us, but it seemed so sad to see them go for no apparent reason.