I saw/heard the oddest thing this morning. We have a number of nest boxes in
the back yard set up for wrens and chickadees. One hasn't been claimed,
though for a couple of days now I've seen a pair of house sparrows hanging
around it. They've been try to get through the hole, but it's too small.
Early this morning I heard juveniles begging - too early, sez I, and looked
out to see a pair of adult house sparrows hopping around the unclaimed nest
box. The male was making that juvenile begging sound, hopping from the top of
the house to a nearby branch and then back to the top of the nest box. Not
only was he vocalizing, he was doing that little juvenile dance with
fluttering wings and gaping mouth. The female followed him around making
chipping sounds. They each made a couple more futile attempts to get into the
nest box before flying off. I've not seen them since. The whole thing
disturbed me enough that I went out and thumped on the side of the box to see
if there were juvies inside. No juvies and now no adults.

Does anyone have an idea of what might be going on here? I've not seen/heard
anything like this before. I understand that females can use this juvenile
behavior to elicit feeding from their mates, but an adult male begging from a
female? Could he have been a first year male that somehow got confused?

Catherine Alexander
Lakewood Neighborhood, Seattle