Tuesday, October 26, 2010

One Way to Kill a House Sparrow


I found this dead sparrow hanging from the feeder in the backyard. Obviously it got it's head stuck while digging for seed. You can see the seed stuck to it's face once I removed the corpse from the feeder. What a way to go. I have found four dead sparrows in my backyard this year. Two under a hedge. One in this feeder and one with it's head stuck in the holes of ornamental brick that surrounds the base of my other feeders. House sparrows are annoying, aggressive and invasive. I am not shedding any tears over these dead sparrows, but cleaning up the corpses is kind of disgusting - especially when you have to detangle broken necks from the tiny holes in a feeder. Yuck.



Deep cleansing breath. I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the autumn sunshine and built a fire in the backyard pit. Good book, crackling flames, sunshine, golden and crimson leaves wafting slowly out of the trees, the smell of wood smoke. Life is good.

8 comments:

Mary said...

I understand your disgust, Beth. Three years ago, I noticed two HOSP at the feeders. Now I have 50+. I can't feed them anymore. They're disgusting. And every day, I regret not being generous to the Chickadees and Cardinals that visit... I'm so torn. I can't afford the little bastards. Then, there are pigeons, raccoons, and squirrels. Thanks for listening.

Susan Gets Native said...

Hell with the HOSP...
You have a backyard FIRE PIT??
BBQ at Beth's!!!!

Is that feeder one of those "squirrel deterrent" ones? I bet the manufacturer didn't see the benefit of HOSP control. Ugh. Corpses.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Love your fire pit!
I found a dead bird (unidentified) stuck in my grape jelly feeder dish. Yuck.

Beth said...

Mary - I've stopped feeding, too. Can't bear that the HOSPs have chased away all my beloved finches, cardinals and others. Only the chickadees seem to brave the HOSPs.

Susan - I have made many a s'more at the pit. I love sitting there for hours listening to the crackle.

Beth said...

And yes, it is a squirrel-proof feeder. I love watching the squirrels try and figure it out over and over. They are persistent!

dguzman said...

Cool firepit!

Eeewww on the corpses. I'm no fan of HOSPs, but wow. Ouch.

Susan Gets Native said...

Wait...did you ROAST the dead HOSP?

Beth said...

Ok - truth be told, I did throw the corpse on the fire. So in essence, yes it was roasted. After all, I am a chef by trade, so I am skilled in making roast sparrow!