

You can hear them long before they’re visible in the garden – the House Sparrows certainly don’t seem to be known for their silence! This particular family were regular visitors to the garden (and the bird bath) last year, and this spring they’ve rediscovered their love of sharing a bath.
However, by the look of things, these two males weren’t overly happy at the initial idea of sharing their bath water. After a brief moment of wing flapping though, they did settle down and share the bath.
You don’t normally get to see the back of a House Sparrow in any great detail – invariably when they do sit still, they’re facing the camera! This one chose to turn its back on me, which gave a fantastic view of the feather details down its back (I’m not certain if this was a male or female).
Drying those feathers can take a while – this particular House Sparrow sat there for ages, before joining the other Sparrows in a nearby tree.
After all that bathing, you need to sit somewhere safe to drip dry – this House Sparrow chose the tallest branch to sit in, while appearing to ponder over another dip in the bird bath.
Back to the bathing birds, and another caption – the House Sparrow on the right doesn’t look too happy at the other birds sharing his bath…. what do you reckon he’s thinking?
There’s something about this photo that is crying out for a caption – just what is the House Sparrow on the left saying?
These two House Sparrows look more like they’re in training for synchronised swimming than having a bath. Both decided to duck under the water at the same time, which lead to a lot of splashing.
There wasn’t much water left in the bath after they’d finished!
Not content with letting the Blackbird hog the bird bath, the House Sparrows insisted on having a turn. They rarely bathe solo, with up to seven birds sitting in the bath at the same time!