A Nature Lesson: Battle of the Birds

We spent the weekend at my parents' house in West Monroe, Louisiana, and their yard is a virtual sanctuary for all kinds of birds ... from doves and woodpeckers to cardinals and sparrows. There is a feeder outside one of their living room windows and the birds literally fight over it.

I loved watching their antics and finally couldn't stand it any longer, and "staked out" the feeder with my camera from inside the window.

With the exception of the first picture, the following pictures were taken shooting through the glass of the window, and I was pleasantly surprised with the way they turned out (you can click on the photos to enlarge them, if you'd like).

The sparrows, roosting in nearby trees and bushes, outnumbered the other birds and were very aggressive, not wanting to share the feeder.

Sparrows are mentioned several times in the Bible:

Psalm 84:3:Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.

Psalm 102:7: I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

And the verse that inspired the song, "His Eye is on the Sparrow," Luke 12:6: Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Most photographers prefer the more colorful cardinals, finches, and bluebirds as their subjects, but I discovered that sparrows have a beauty all their own.

Ouch! That can't be comfortable!

I was excited to capture a couple of them displaying their aggressive nature. Oops ... watch out, Sam! Spike is sneaking up on you!

Whew! Sam stops him in his tracks, or would that be flaps?

Ohhhhh ... Spike is a sneaky little sparrow, and tries attacking from the side. But he can't put anything over on Sam. He's on the ball!

And THEN, along came Clyde the Cardinal, in all his radiant splendor ...

Happily munching on sunflower seeds, minding his own business ...

But that feisty little Sam the Sparrow wasn't in a sharing mood and decided Clyde had had enough ...

Look at their tangled feet in this picture ...

But Clyde won that battle, if not the war, and went back to his munching ...

A few minutes and several sunflower seeds later, Clyde's turn at the feeder was rudely interrupted by the arrival of Wally the Woodpecker, who gobbled to his heart's content for several minutes.

I loved capturing these beautiful little birds with my camera, and enjoyed experiencing a lesson in one of Nature's basic principles of survival -- that of "the pecking order."