Friday, 23 March 2012

Beautiful Birds (43): Never Too Late for World Sparrow Day


Sparrow on Liberty Island, USA, January 2012
I am grateful to fellow poet, Alan Summers, for drawing our attention to World Sparrow Day ... and my apologies for running late, which is rather the story of my life at present due to an imminent house move!

Alan has some excellent information on his blog, Area 17, so you might like to discover some new Sparrow facts for yourself. You can also visit the World Sparrow Day site, and see gallery photos of many different Sparrows. I had no idea that some were so colourful.

We may be late, but why not post a Sparrow photo on your blog. If you do, please throw a link back to the WSD site. You might also care to leave me a link in the Comments section below ... and we can always aim to mark 2013 World Sparrow Day ON TIME.

P.S. Did you know that the House Sparrow has a RED conservation designation?
at

4 comments:

  1. Mary23 March 2012 at 13:25

    I didn't realize there was a World Sparrow Day! You certainly picked a sparrow that has made it around the world! Those House Sparrows that originally came from England to the USA have become a common nuisance all over our country. It is the one sparrow you can find anywhere!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crafty Green Poet23 March 2012 at 17:17

    Gosh i had no idea there was a World Sparrow day! it's worth pointing out that the house sparrow's red status probably only applies in the UK.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Caroline Gill23 March 2012 at 18:55

    Yes, Juliet, a good point to make. Thank you.

    I also note that House Sparrow was there in the recent Top 5 of the Scottish school bird count list.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Area 1723 March 2012 at 19:10

    The scary thing is that I remember sparrows in their hundreds visiting my parent's garden in one fell swoop on a regular, almost daily basis.

    The same reasons they are rare in many parts of Britain might well happen, in the not-so-distant future, in other countries.

    weblink:
    The IUCN Red List of: Passer domesticus (House Sparrow)


    I also like to find that some of my haiku are eco-timestamps:

    In 1997 Hedge Sparrows, at least within the city of Bristol, were abundent:

    in and out of lavatera
    gang of hedge sparrows
    to the birdfeeder

    Publications credits:
    Blithe Spirit Vol.7 No.3 (1997)

    Yet around 9 years later (2004), I wrote about a single sparrow at my mother's birdfeeder, and not being a regular occurance.

    summer wind
    a sparrow re-rights itself
    at the peanut cage

    Publications credits:
    Snapshots magazine 10 (2004); Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku (Snapshot Press 2008)

    Alan Summers, With Words

    ReplyDelete