Protecting A Sparrow From Itself!

He was absolutely relentless

At first I thought it was funny and a good photo-opportunity but it just wouldn't stop. The male sparrow relentlessly attacked its own reflection in our car window and it didn't take long for empathy to kick-in. What it must be like to doggedly fight a futile battle that could only ever end in an exhausted draw. The car windows were also getting a bit smeary so I moved the car further away from the bird's nest but five minutes later it had re-found itself in the window and continued the fight.

Male Plain-backed Sparrow arguing with itself in our car window

And this wasn't one of the common Tree Sparrows, this was a Plain-backed Sparrow, which is a bird that has been in severe decline in Thailand over the last few decades. Having them nest in our carport was a privilege and letting it peck itself stupid would be irresponsible. So I drove into town and bought a car cover.

Our pair of Plain-backed Sparrows

View from the nest site before and after the car cover

All seemed well until later that day I started hearing a metallic tap-tap-tap. Looking outside I saw the sparrow on the ground now attacking its reflection in a metal pail. Again this wasn't a quick flutter to make a point then fly off to find some food, this bird meant business and was going to peck-peck-peck until the end. The curved surface of the pail produces a narrow reflection so I imagine the sparrow thought it had a good chance of actually winning this time. At least I could solve this problem more cheaply with an old rag as a cover.

Always an equal match

Got the problem covered

The guilty part of this is that, as you can see, I did actually let it continue its battle for a while so that I could get some photos. Sorry, sparrow.

The strange part is that this was the third year in a row that these sparrows had nested in exactly the same hole a couple of metres away from where we park exactly the same car. Why had it suddenly decided to get so aggressively defensive? Perhaps the female had found a different mate with a different attitude.

Female and male sharing the duties

With a sinking heart a few days later I noticed that the sparrow had started having a go at its reflection in a house window. That was going to be harder to cover and presumably it would then just move to a different window. I was thinking about trying some silhouettes of birds of prey to keep it away when I realised that he had stopped. Apparently, it seems that he isn't so relentless when the "intruder" is further away. It's usually just a few flurries of fighting in the morning then he gets on with feeding his chicks. I'm still keeping an eye on him but I think I can just let him get on with it.

Here we go again! Strangely, always in the top corner

A couple of weeks later a fledgling sparrow emerged from the nest hole with both parents fussying around it, which made me smile like a proud uncle.

Success!

This male seems to be territorial all year so now I have to keep the car cover on all the time, which is probably one of the stranger nature conservation strategies I've come across!

I just wish that guy would stay away from my property!