Home building

At first there was a lot of abstract activity, grackles soaking God-only-knows-what to soften it up. They soak pretzels, bread and acorns. Very intelligent birds, except I'm not sure you can soften acorns. But maybe the wet surface helps acorns slide down easier.

The activity changed. Obvious home-building jays. Both male and female were collecting muck.

Over by the cottage I saw the male sparrow also collecting nesting material. He flew it up to a ledge of the cottage......

and then all hell broke loose. The female wanted no part of him. It was WAR. Eventually the male flew off, the female "yelling" at him. There was nothing gentle about the encounter. It was ferocious, had nothing to do with sex, everything to do with GET LOST!

I wish I could have been at a higher angle, but you get the idea. The battle of the sparrows.

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