Lonely heart. Seeking partner for sexual relationship

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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:56 pm

This poor fellow, a house sparrow, is now into his third week of looking for a mate.
He built a nest under the slates on the corner of my house.
Since then he's spent all day, every day, from dawn 'til dusk, calling for a mate.
He only leaves the corner of the gutter to come down for food and water.

Three feet away from him, also under the slates, is a pair of house sparrows feeding their second pair of youngsters.
I guess he must be ugly and unattractive to the gal sparrows.

Sorry the pic is not too brilliant. It's the best I can do with my camera.
And . . . . yes, I know. A bad workman always blames his tools. Smile

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:04 pm

Poor thing. He must be lonely. He doesn't look any more or less attractive than any other sparrow, but what do I know? Laughing

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:22 pm

Poor guy. Maybe he doesn't bathe, has piles of old pizza boxes laying around the nest, and sings like a horrendous American/Pop Idol contestant.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:56 am

^^^ isn't that Professor So and so?

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:59 am

He's better off without the chicks.

They just make you bathe, clean up your pizza boxes and stop singing.

Laughing

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:02 am

GordonBennett wrote:

^^^ isn't that Professor So and so?

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:08 am

He is quite handsome Very Happy

Also BB it looks like you might get a little rain Smile

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:11 am

B. A. Ware wrote:

He's better off without the chicks. They just make you bathe, clean up your pizza boxes and stop singing. Laughing

...and make you put the toilet seat up when peeing and back down when you are done, stop fantasizing about and staring at their girlfriends, and watch chick flicks.

@BB. Studies have shown the more brightly colored males get the chicks (birds?). Perhaps you can help brighten him up a little. Shooting him with a paint ball gun is not what I have in mind.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:15 am

Interesting. I didn't know that the male built the nest. Does the female check it out first? I was waiting for a riding buddy to meet up with me on a bike trail today next to a small concrete stream. There were hundreds of three spine stickle back fish. About 20 had made nests and the adult females were going from nest to next and checking them out. I noticed extreme sexual dimorphism in these fish. The only reason that the fish were not disturbed was that there was a homeless encampment twenty feet away. I was trying to use this as a lesson for my son, about the females selecting males based upon size of nest and location and he said the lesson was that if you build next to where people crap, everyone would leave you alone.

Edit-known as tiddlers in England.
From Wiki.

Quote:

As carotenoids cannot be synthesised de novo, the degree of colouration gives an indication of male quality, with higher quality males showing more intense colouration. However, it is noteworthy that the response to red is not universal across the entire species complex, with black throated populations often found in peat-stained waters. Males also develop blue irises on maturation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-spined_stickleback

Paint ball guns would not be good.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:25 am

Poor little guy. Breddan, you make him sound so alone. Crying or Very sad

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:17 am

Maybe this little chap is a bit confused and tweeting a bird medley of Audi car alarm songs he picked up.
He needs a new repertoire.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:18 am

It could be that his mate has died, been eaten or is no longer there, the sparrows we have here mate for life, the same pairs come back to the same nests in my trees every year.

And yes, you can spot pairs in sparrows if you have the time available to sit watching them

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:33 am

^^ Amazing! You have 'time available" ? WOW, I'm impressed!

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:15 am

Hang on - how on earth can you be sure it's the same one? Sparrows - or Turdus vulgaris, to give them their proper name - are pretty similar. Are you sure it's not just a nice place for them to stop and admire the view? I say you should tag it and then see if it's the same one.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:59 pm

Maybe he's gay and doesn't know it? Confused

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:32 pm

You really should have released the hounds with a better insult than that, Gordon. At any rate, game on!

Oh yeah, best wishes to the bird, BB.

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:41 am

^^eek!

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:02 am

GordonBennett wrote:

... Sparrows - or Turdus vulgaris, to give them their proper name - are pretty similar. ...

<Pedantic Mode>
The Family Turdidae include true thrushes in the Genus Turdus. Sparrows are Passerines of the Genus Passer.
</Pedantic Mode>

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:08 am

^^ really? I was just calling them common sh#ts! Fancy some idiot ornithologist naming a whole genus 'turds'! Laughing

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:12 am

I really thought this was a thread about Reaper...........

BB, just shoot him and put him out of his misery. Who's going to miss an ugly, drab colored, most likely gay (not that there is anything wrong with that) sparrow?

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