One Determined Sparrow

There has been a compromise of sorts between me and the Determined Sparrow. As soon as I would bring down the pole to the Purple Martin house (a tricky operation, lowering two metal poles without slicing a finger off if one of the poles slips), and tearing out the beginnings of the sparrow nest, the Determined Sparrow would wait until I put the pole back and he would again begin building his nest. He wasted no time. Not a Shy One, this sparrow. After the last nest clean out, I left the door to the apartment opened. The Purple Martin birdhouse has six apartments, two on the bottom and one on the top on the side facing east. On the other side (west), two apartments on the top and one on the bottom. Mr. Determined Sparrow preferred the one on the bottom facing west. I raised the pole again and went to the shed to observe what Mr. Determined would do now. He shot right up into that now garage door opened apartment. He looked up and down and around and then sat there, contemplating his next move. His mate joined him. Both of them sat there in the apartment without a front. Today was very windy. Any nesting placed in the apartment without a front would surely blow away. For most of the day, these two would flit back and forth between that open apartment and the post of an old blue bird house. I left them to do some yard work. As the sun was setting I heard a perky “Chirp! Chirp!” What do my eyes see? I see a little sparrow head peaking out of the blue bird house, looking in my direction, as if to acknowledge that he has accepted my compromise. A few minutes later, I saw a pair of bluebirds sitting on top of the blue bird house across the way from the sparrows' new home. Maybe we all can live together after all. Just not in the Purple Martin house.

Bill Chases Barbara

To take a lighthearted new direction from my recent blog postings, I am posting this video I took about a week ago of my partner Bill playing a joke on our neighbor Barbara. He waited until she took a turn around her and then fell in behind her, walking closely. Look carefully and you'll see Barbara coming around the turn, waving at me taking her video, realizing that Bill is right behind her. Thank goodness she didn't fall off the mower! Now that would have been a video.
As a follow-up to the sparrow drama, this morning my Determined Sparrow was again rebuilding his nest in the Purple Martin house. I, again, tore it out. After I got back from breakfast at Zorba's Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach with Bill, I looked out my sun room window and saw that my Determined Sparrow was now building his nest in one of the blue bird boxes. In fact, it was the box that I found five dead sparrows last week. They had probably died from the heavy rains of the nor'easter. I decided to compromise and let the sparrow build his nest. A few minutes later I saw two sparrows on the landing at the Purple Martin house making whoopee. Obviously time was of the essence. Later, I checked the blue bird house and discovered that the sparrow's nest was almost finished. I will monitor the progress of the nesting sparrows and keep the readers of this blog informed. Again, I have to thank "Happy in Nevada" for her thoughtful suggestion to "make room for all" in my backyard. Thank you Diane.