Baby sparrow

[Pat]

I was out walking the other day and saw a baby sparrow on the ground flapping its wings and trying to fly, I kept away from it ( as you're supposed to do ) and watched, a parent sparrow flew down and put some food in the baby's mouth and flew away, the next thing I knew a male blackbird came down and fed it, has anyone ever witnessed anything like this before, I certainly haven't! I waited watching for about half an hour and the blackbird and sparrow fed the baby several times and then it fluttered away into the bushes, and guess what, I didn't have my camera with me!

[henrya]

Pat, I have heard of similar sightings, though I've not witnesssed it myself. I think that at this time of year, birds can get a bit confused. They see a baby begging for food and think "I must feed it", but if it happens to be someone else's baby, then that is over-ridden by the 'feed hungry baby' messages in their head!

Henry

[StuartDH]

Hi Pat,

I've never seen this type of shared feeding, but last year there was a great show of solidatry from some birds in our back garden when our dog went and picked up a young sparrow that had fallen from it's nest.

The dog found the baby sparrow on the path, picked it up in it's mouth and brought it to me in the kitchen, where it lay it down on the floor and then sat back with her tail wagging.

Various different types of birds (sparrows, starlings, blue tits and a robin) in the garden went absolutely beserk and a magpie came up to the backdoor and made an incredible racket. They all seemed to rally together in the interest of looking after the young chick.