Last year we had a house sparrow nest in our guttering on the roof (I remember a very loud and persistent fledging calling from there repeatedly!) and this year the nest appeared there again. I assume it was the work of the same pair of house sparrows.
Yesterday I was outside with my daughter and we watched as the female house sparrow collected seeds from our bird feeder and took them back to the nest. When she arrived there we could hear the calls of the young above our heads.
So this morning I was rather shocked and delighted to see the young out of the nest, fledged! At least I assume they were the ones from our nest.
There were a male and female house sparrow on our feeder. Sitting on perches on a branch nearby were three juveniles. The female kept bringing them seeds. She focused on two of them as the third seemed to able to make trips to the feeder itself.
All the juveniles looked similar to the female in terms of their plumage, but I don't know if that's how all juvenile house sparrows look or whether they were three females.
Later that same day I saw them again at the feeder, but this time they were feeding from it themselves. They had clearly been watching their mother closely!
They were a bit unsteady and there was one comedy moment when all three went for the same feeder perch at exactly the same time, prompting some panicked flapping of wings to get away.
The whole thing was lovely to watch. I don't know anything about house sparrow development but I find it hard to believe the young could go from being in the nest to fledged and getting their own food within a day, so perhaps these were different birds from those in our nest, although I find that hard to believe too. Who knows.
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