Hello Tweenters:

I am a very novice "birder" so I don't know if what I watched last evening
could be described as typical or not.

I have a hummingbird feeder hanging from my eve, right outside my patio door
and window. About 10 feet from that, a little bit lower and hanging from a
bracket on my fence is a tube feeder filled with millet, sunflower seeds and
peanuts.

Shortly before dusk while a rufous hummingbird was at the hummingbird feeder,
a house sparrow left its perch on the tube feeder and proceeded directly to
the rufous. The sparrow came to within less than an inch away from it before
the rufous turned and darted off.

Then about 30 minutes later at dusk when there were no more birds at any of my
feeders (there are thistle and regular black sunflower seed feeders out there
as well), a rufous approached the hummingbird feeder, didn't feed, then went
directly to the tube feeder position from which the sparrow had traveled. The
rufous then hovered at the tube feeder, putting its beak far into a feeding
station opening, remaining for a second or two, then withdrew, chose the next
feeding station up and did the same thing at that one before finally returning
to the humming bird feeder where it fed. (Without finding anything liquid,
probably figured that sparrows are really crazy birds.)

My guess is that in both instances it was a case of curiosity. The sparrow
that went to the rufous didn't really seem to be in attack mode, and of course
the rufous going to the tube feeder had nothing within the normal realm of
foliage or color to attract it (don't know whether it was male or female),
except having seen birds there earlier.

Besides having the opportunity for an interesting observation, was wondering.
Is "cross species" curiosity among birds common?

Jim Brewster
Kent