Sparrow mating season.

Sparrow mating season has started!

It seems to me that all the mating festivities in the gutter and hedge have started late this year. I think it’s because of the cold mornings. Usually, I see them for the first time each year, mating around the official start of spring, but not this year. (Maybe I missed some things.) The males are usually a bit impatient for that time. But now I have seen twice a female impatiently tugging at the male’s coat: ‘Come on! Let’s mate!’

Me too?

Mating always looks a bit “me-too”, but make no mistake. Before mating, there are always several rituals involved. A male who just dives on a female will take blows from the assertive and, more importantly, equally strong females. I once saw a female grab a male’s neck because he had been too bold, and when he flew away, she just stuck around. Don’t mess with the female sparrows. When they agree that mating is about to take place, the male hops on the female. After that, he often pecks her head very hard a few times. I have no idea why they do this, nor does it seem pleasant. But they do. I have seen this in other birds too.

The female called him back!

During mating, a male jumps on the female. Does “his thing” very briefly and quickly. And he jumps off -usually on the other side. Then he does the same thing several more times, up to about ten times in a row, as long as they both agree. Before each “waggle”, the agreement is always -very briefly- checked by special looks and making little movements. I once saw a male who, after six woops, thought he was done and flew away. And then…the female called him back from the gutter! And he came back. Then they continued for a while until the female too thought it was enough.

Cheating

Sparrows raise their youngsters together, they don’t divorce and move in with someone else. -as far as I know- But they do cheat sometimes. It’s hard for me to tell how often they do, because they all look alike. But I saw a male mating with his female first, and after the female flew away, he had a nice time with his neighbour.

Caring fathers

Many sparrows nest under our roof tiles every year, so in summer, there is a whole racket under our roof from all those hungry youngsters. Once the youngsters have fledged, I often see the fathers busy parenting with them. Mothers do care for the fledged youngsters too, but most of the time I see the fathers do this job. The young ones are still being fed for a while and will probably have to learn a few things about life outside the nest. I assume the mother is already most of the time brooding on the next lay by then.

Hop on-Hop off

Sparrows have a few clutches a year. They mate from the end of March to August. Later in the season, there is something funny about the mating again. Or actually, sometimes they are kind of ‘fake mating’ then. The male jumps on top of the female, hops off again too and does this a few times. But while sitting on the female, he does Nothing! I always call it hop on-hop off. I think he jumps on her anyway, maybe to keep her happy, but mainly to not give the competition the idea that they could start something with his wife.

Go out and watch the birds

Every day I watch the sparrows from my studio. Back in school, we used to have teachers who thought it was really bad if you were bird-watching during class. Believe me, they were so wrong. It’s a wonderful entertainment, it’s completely free. In my opinion, Wonder is one of the highest forms of attention. If we had paid that kind of attention to nature a bit more often, it wouldn’t be such a mess. Maybe we would realise a bit more that we are part of that nature and that we depend on it. We need it!

So, if I might give you a tip for life…go out and watch the birds.

Just after the Hop-off. You see, sparrows also tend to be clumsy with sex sometimes, only they don’t write articles about that in women’s magazines.