Melanistic House Sparrows

Not sure what happened to the last post. Into the ether...

My first post on the RSPB website was a request to identify a strange bird that turned out to be a melanistic male house sparrow. He has been back to the garden with the sparrow colony on a regular basis and I have been able to take more photos. A melanistic juvenile has joined the group within the past week and I have a photo of that too. Hopefully this means there are more on the way if the melanistic gene is in the colony.

I remember your first post. There was much discussion as I recall but I didn't have a clue. This may be Darwinism in action and the start of a whole new species. LOL

Hi MC It's a smashing looking bird.

lol TJ, just think if it is, we are privy to it, how great would that be lol

Great to see you're still getting it Monkeycheese hope you get a photo of the youngster.

The last of my photos is of the youngster. However, since I took that photo, I have noticed two or three more melanistic juveniles and it would appear that there are at least two adult males. The gene pool has certainly been affected. The original male is back on a daily basis, but rather than just feeding on the fatballs, he first collects beakfuls of mealworms and flies off with them, which would suggest a nearby nest. There are now so many sparrows in the colony that there was insufficient room in the small tree the other day during the endless rain. Some of the littluns had to find small nooks and crannies under the garage roof, while others simply got wet. I am constructing a small shelter for them which I will attach to the fence. At times there are as many as 40 of them in the garden, competing with a group of starlings that numbers about 30. Add to that 4 or 5 adult wood pigeons, a few blue tits, great tits, dunnocks and a pair of stroppy juvenile robins who are fighting for control of the garden and I have mayhem on a daily basis, all in a garden that is only 18'x18'! I wouldn;t have it any other way...