It was dusk as I walked along the Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline, and about five degrees out. A little bird chirping in the bushes was the only sign of life on the trail.
He fluttered over the hedge and down an embankment. Reaching a gap in the bushes, I saw him out on the ice. He kept sticking his beak down into the ice, almost burying his head. I couldn't quite make out what he was doing. I thought maybe he'd found a little hole in the ice and was trying to get a drink before bed. "Poor little bird," I thought.
Imagine my surprise when I got home and saw this up close.
That "poor little bird" was taking care of himself just fine. He wasn't trying to get a drink. He was ripping chunks of flesh off a dead fish!
I I.D. the bird. It's a song sparrow. They normally eat seeds and insects. But in the waning moments of the day, on the eve of a storm, you do what you gotta do. It's a dog eat dog world out there.
Very cute! Even if the bird is being gruesome!
ReplyDeleteThank you! He is a handsome little bird.
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