280 days of Urbpandemonium #4

This male house sparrow Passer domesticus was busily engaged in building a nest and guarding his territory. Being a house sparrow, the territory was the corner of a building, and the nest was tucked into a hollow in the construction of the roof. These birds have been nesting alongside humans since just about the invention of western civilization 10,000 years ago in the fertile crescent. When Europeans colonized parts of the world untouched by this species, they made it their business to import them. As a result, the house sparrow is the most numerous and widespread songbird on the planet, often at the expense of native species. The only rival for this title is the European starling, whose lurid story will be told in a later post.

3:00 snapshot #1939: Wednesday

Bird's World zookeepers stand next to a Children's Zoo exhibit, the prairie dogs, which temporarily also contains their peacocks.