These familiar birds are so easy to relegate to the background, a part of a noisy backdrop to suburban life. Yet they repay a second look. Their familiarity is due in no small part to their phenomenal adaptability and success. Holding this together is a fascinating sparrow society telling their story through song, movement and plumage. They're a communal species, almost always seen in groups. Partly this is a defence in numbers strategy against predators. But because they live in groups they require societal codes, just like us. Look at the males, as a rule of thumb, the greater the extent of black upon the chest the more dominant he is. Watch him display this to other males and females. But not during the breeding season, for then it's the female that becomes dominant. When agitated, they crouch, throat feathers raised, tail twitching and wings rolled forward. A noisy outbreak of chirruping and fluttering wings usually means that the threat display was inconclusive. Even during the breeding season they stay close. Like now they venture onto the lawn in search of insects with which they feed their highly altricial helpless young. As the summer approaches they will start to eat more seeds as they become available. The wonderful thing about the common is that they allow us to observe them. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_zUSiYKmYra7-frUQ-IldtHmSqNuC8h6KhfX00/?igshid=23vdwaop90ok