Backyard Gossip!

An intimate portrait of a local song sparrow

Q. How did you get your start in backyard feeders?

A. I was eating some seeds at the base of the snowball bush, and I looked up—you always have to keep an eye out for predators—and that was when I saw the backyard feeder for the first time. I just, you know, flew up there, tasted it, it was pretty dang good.

Q. Do you still hang out in bushes and trees and places like that?

A. Of course! You never forget where you come from. I love getting a grip on a nearly vertical branch and just, you know, hanging on gracefully. I think that vertical branches show my my colors really well, too. A bird wants to be seen!

Q. Do you use the feeder because you're ambitious? The other sparrows talk, you know.

A. To be honest? Sure. I have ambition. I look to the stars a lot, though I am not up at night much and you can’t see them in the daytime, but I do look up, for sure. But that doesn’t only speak to ambition. I’m creative; I can perch just about anywhere, any time, on any thing.

Q. Even if it makes you look silly?

A. Especially if it makes me look silly.

Q. How about telling us…

A. Gotta run, er, I mean fly! Next time, bro! I see some juicy beetles over by the garage…