So Doug and I were eating supper together the other night in our new, wonderfully empty nest, and the birds in the backyard were going bonkers. They were doing that thing they do in the evening when they all sit in a tree, or maybe it’s more than one tree, and yammer together, back and forth, like old neighbors sitting on porch rockers. The culprits seem to be regular ol’ house sparrows, practicing something known as “communal roosting.” So–what do you think the birdies are telling one another in their nightly recaps? “Wow, Tweetie, you did a terrific job escaping that hawk today!” “Hey, Joe, I saw you preening in front of the birdbath. Vain a little?” “So, does anybody else think the birdseed in the backyard at 474 tastes stale?” I mean, what exactly is the purpose of these loudmouthed gatherings? If anybody knows the secret and is willing to share it, I’d love to know.
Photo by J.M. Garg licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. |