One from last year - Spanish sparrow in Piedmont Italy. More for interest rather than critique....
Taken in the grounds of a converted monestry which is now a hotel complex. Set into one of the building towers was a nesting "cot", which was probably originally made for swifts. Young swifts were a considered delicassy on the Continent, but the nesting holes were now occupied by Sparrows (see second image). - Similar in concept to artificial sand martin banks, these sparrows seemed willing to take up artificial nesting holes - which may be of conservation interest in the UK for the dwindling house sparrow population.
I was having focus issues with my 50-200 lens last year (following a taxi driver dropping my camera bag on the trip....) so the image is not as sharp as I would like hence only a small jpeg.
Olympus E-3, iso 100, 50-200mm plus 1.4 tc, hand held.
Nice to see some spugs, even if they are Mediterranean .
Don't know about decline in our spug population - from the 40+ strong flock munching my seed, they're healthy enough . Perhaps if people weren't so tidy and left space for them in town houses and gardens then they'd be back - certainly the case with starlings too - our late winter countryside starling flock is a delight to watch!
Intriguing that the spugs have taken over the nest holes and are happy in such close proximity to each other - we've a '3 bedroom' sparrow terrace on the house and there's only one pair of sparrows in residence - they have 3 broods each year, one in each 'bedroom' and aren't happy to share the terrace with any other pairs! The terrace was put up for the spugs after they'd unhomed a family of Martins out of their cup a few years before, we'd hoped the Martins would return, but the sparrows chased them off !
Mike very interesting never thought Swifts would be on the menu, Spanish Sparrows really are little crackers.
Keith
Posted by Nick Mckeown on March 20, 2013 at 3:03 PM
Look very much like ours sparrows......I wonder if they have a different language?
Nick.
Posted by Neil Burton on March 21, 2013 at 4:28 AM
Well my neighbors all have peckers, finches and redstarts. I got 20 something sparrows! The like nesting in the porch roof, judging from all the grass in there.
Had a gop at reducing the contrast as well, with the tried and tested B&W/invert layer plus opening up the eye detail, much better now....
Posted by Dawn Monrose on March 21, 2013 at 5:15 PM
Interesting series of shots Mike. We installed a 'Sparrow terrace' type nest box, as we have a fairly good population of Sparrows in the village, but only the Great and Blue tits will use it! Spanish Sparrows seem to be handsome little chaps!
Discussion
10 repliesTaken in the grounds of a converted monestry which is now a hotel complex. Set into one of the building towers was a nesting "cot", which was probably originally made for swifts. Young swifts were a considered delicassy on the Continent, but the nesting holes were now occupied by Sparrows (see second image). - Similar in concept to artificial sand martin banks, these sparrows seemed willing to take up artificial nesting holes - which may be of conservation interest in the UK for the dwindling house sparrow population.
I was having focus issues with my 50-200 lens last year (following a taxi driver dropping my camera bag on the trip....) so the image is not as sharp as I would like hence only a small jpeg.
Olympus E-3, iso 100, 50-200mm plus 1.4 tc, hand held.
Nesting block to follow
Don't know about decline in our spug population - from the 40+ strong flock munching my seed, they're healthy enough
Intriguing that the spugs have taken over the nest holes and are happy in such close proximity to each other - we've a '3 bedroom' sparrow terrace on the house and there's only one pair of sparrows in residence - they have 3 broods each year, one in each 'bedroom' and aren't happy to share the terrace with any other pairs! The terrace was put up for the spugs after they'd unhomed a family of Martins out of their cup a few years before, we'd hoped the Martins would return, but the sparrows chased them off
Keith
Nick.
Nick Spanish Sparrows are like a cross between Tree and House Sparrow, no grey cap and a larger breast splodge of black
David
Had a gop at reducing the contrast as well, with the tried and tested B&W/invert layer plus opening up the eye detail, much better now....