And they are not shy to play the game in public:)
So, what do you think was going on here?
Early in the season and there was nesting going on all around us. Soon some babies will be born here, and then we will have to keep the sparrows away as they hunt the dwarf geckos for their tails, and even worse the smaller ones' lives. The sparrows feed the gecko tails to their newborn babies. Of course, we were not happy about this when we saw it for the first time, but a mystery was cleared up for us, as we saw many little geckos running around with no tails.
So, as soon as we hear the sparrows arriving in the front garden, either my wife or I run outside to scare them away. A good thing is that our back garden is more secure and that results in the dwarf geckos' population growing. Most mornings the geckos are all over the show feeding on small insects. A mosquito stands no chance against a small gecko. Note that they are called dwarf geckos as they are not as big as the regular geckos, and they are only found here in the Cape.
Nope, they are not wrestling, but rather having a good time.
Check how he holds the female's abdomen with his front foot.
This little guy sat on a pot below watching the spectacle.
As he looked away, you can see on his face that he was not impressed with what he saw. Almost a shy look:)
And there is the pot that is below the love pot above.
At least, the Cape Sparrows are more discrete.
The male arrived with the linen for the bed in their nest.
He was just too fast for me to get a full shot of his flight, as his proud wife looked on.
The Cape Sparrows both build their nest, and it is always a rather untidy looking one. The neighbor next door to us has a grape vine canopy, and the sparrows are busy building their nest in there. I will have to ask the neighbor for permission to search the vine and to remove the nest so that they can go and nest somewhere else. Where they are building their nest now is too close to our front garden, and they will happily hunt the small geckos when their babies are born.
This is not cruel, as we know that they will go and build their nest elsewhere.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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