Friday, June 22, 2007

House Sparrow


We have a bird house mounted to a tree besides our chicken pen that is home to a pair of House Sparrows. Let me start by saying that I am not a big fan of the sparrow, house or otherwise, in general. I find them to be a nuisance and very annoying. They're small enough to fit through the wire of the chicken pen and are often inside eating the chicken's food and pooping all over and honestly they're not the prettiest bird either.

I modified this particular bird house, before hanging it, so that one side could be opened and cleaned in the fall. Well, I opened it yesterday to have a look see knowing full well there were baby birds inside. There appears to be just two young chicks but it was hard to tell. Of course I took one of the chicks out just because I can and told it to nest elsewhere come next spring. You can see in the picture above that she isn't fully feathered yet and that she still has her pin feathers. They are cute at this stage but then again most animals are.

The picture below shows the visual difference between a male and female House Sparrow. So now you can impress your family and friends with this tidbit of knowledge.


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