[birding] Re: [obol] Death & Love among the birds

[sandyleapt at comcast.net]

I once saw a gull behave in this manner at a NE Portland transit station. It stayed with its deceased parent or parent for almost a week. It defended the body and only left when a person came to close. I was beginning to worry about the poor bird. Someone finally picked up the dead gull, the live bird searched the area for a day or two and then left. It broke my heart. (And no, the live bird was not feeding on the dead bird). 

Sandy Leaptrott 
NE Portland 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil and Christina" <phils at rio.com> 
To: "Jamie S." <woodpecker97330 at yahoo.com>, "obol" <obol at oregonbirdwatch.org>, "post to list midvalleybirding" <list at midvalleybirding.org>, "Mid-valley-nature" <mid-valley-nature at googlegroups.com> 
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:12:33 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: Re: [obol] Death & Love among the birds 


For another interesting take on the House Sparrow, read "Providence of a Sparrow" by Chris Chester. 

Phil Shepard 
Elmira 


-----Original Message----- 
From: obol-bounces at oregonbirdwatch.org [mailto:obol-bounces at oregonbirdwatch.org] On Behalf Of Jamie S. 
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 2:23 PM 
To: obol; post to list midvalleybirding; Mid-valley-nature 
Subject: [obol] Death & Love among the birds 


	
Let me preface this short story by saying that I'm not a fan of exotic species, but it's not their fault that they are here and they can have interesting characteristics, including behaviors. 

Today while walking between buildings at work, I noticed 2 house sparrows sitting closely side-by-side in some bark dust. It didn't take long to see that the female was dead and the male was huddling close to his mate. 15 minutes later when I passed by again, the scene was the same. I've never felt so much sympathy for a house sparrow. 

Jamie Simmons 
Corvallis 

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