This one takes off from my narrative of June 4th, “Tempest in a Teapot?” (https://asliveroflife.wordpress.com/2019/06/04/tempest-in-a-teapot/), in which I recounted how a team of house sparrows had fortuitously aided the creation of a mini-forest of foxtail millet plants within the confines of my tulsi planter. In due course these plants flowered and fruited, yielding millet seeds for the sparrows to feast upon (or should I say harvest?). Taking it a step further, a pair of nesting sparrows from within the same team neatly cut up and took away the now-wilting, post-harvest plants – leaves, stem and all – to line their nest! Bravo my little farmers – you reaped what you sowed and then some more!
The Characters: A flutter of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) with nine lead actors – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota
Act 1, Scene 1: (Alpha, Zeta, Theta and Iota notice the tender sprouting panicles and are determined to guard their crop)
To fore the bounds of the four corners,
we ward off the eyes of evil foreigners,
lest they spy the bounties we shield,
no one enters the limits of our field.
We defend the grain that is our right,
the gang to mount guard day or night,
so come forth ye all let’s stand as one,
the farmers’ life has only just begun.
Act 1, Scene 2: (Zeta, Theta and Iota drive back the pillaging pigeons)
The cooing and flapping tapered off,
a kit of pigeons readying for takeoff,
eyes on our farm for some time now,
raiding our crop we must not allow.
Here they come get ready to attack,
beaks to the front claws to the back,
left flank right flank and cut to chase,
pecked and rattled they fled in a daze!
Act 2, Scene 1: (The nine feast on the fruits of their labour)
Come dear friends let’s raise our wings,
revel in the riches our long vigil brings,
relish the grains that we toiled to grow,
delectable when it’s sweat off our brow!
Act 2, Scene 2: (Delta and Epsilon take away the stalks for their nest)
The crop has yielded an abundance of delight,
we’ve adored and devoured every single bite,
to use we shall put even the stalks that stand,
into our nest shall weave every little strand!
– Narendra Nayak © 2019
Wonderful! Thank-you for noticing, photographing, writing, and sharing. “They reaped what they sowed” sums it up nicely.
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Thank you so much, Ma’am! I’m delighted that you enjoyed the post.
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Seems they are really good and methodical in what they do. This observation of yours gives us a peak into these beautiful creature’s lives.
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Yes, Swati – they are really fascinating and meticulous of habit! The more I watch them, the more I get to learn of their delightful ways.
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What marvellous macro photography and I just love the images of the House Sparrows. They’re regular visitors in my balcony garden.
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Thank you so much! Yes, I’ve read about your balcony garden and the wonderful visitors – those are some lovely narratives and pictures!
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Thank you, Narendra. Not many high rise apartment dwellers in the city have my lucky location.
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And not many would put in efforts, as you have, to take advantage of this opportunity. You are blessed by mother nature! Enjoy the company of your beautiful visitors. 🙂
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Truly anyone (bird or man) can enjoy all the fruits of their labor.
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Yes, Pat – well said!
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Thanks!
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This is super awesome stuff….I had almost missed it. Such an interesting and witty write up and those pictures are amazing. I felt I was was with the sparrows right there 🙂
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Thank you so much, Neelanjana! I’m so happy that you are keeping up with my sparrow chronicles and enjoying it too. 🙂
By the way I have added an exclusive bird feeder for those parakeets that I had mentioned in my Insta post, and luckily they were devouring the bajra grains within a few hours of putting it up. But they are quite a suspicious lot. So I’m now trying to tempt them with some green chilies and guava so they may spend enough time for me to get a few clicks… 😉😄
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Hahaha…..the manipulative human they are co-existing with the parakeets know not 😉
So, we perhaps have a parakeet series coming up 🙂
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I think the parakeets have been forewarned – saw the sparrows chatter away at them over breakfast this morning. Hopefully they wouldn’t have understood the accent – I myself find Chirpese so difficult to follow! 😬😜
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Hahaha….:D
We’ll wait and watch how the parakeets have interpreted the Chirpese 😀
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😁🤞🏼
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Brilliant photography
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Thanks a lot, Taruna!
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