DBE

By DBE

A Not So Self-Effacing Dunnock

I prefer the name Dunnock to Hedge Sparrow - it sounds more special! But this bird is also known as Hedge Spadger and its archaic vernacular names were sometimes personalised into 'blue Tom' or 'hedge Betty'. It is known as a very self-effacing bird but tends to be one of the prominent songsters in early spring, including this morning when the sunshine streamed into my garden. However, at other times it is a most private bird and because of this has been described as 'perhaps the most complex known in British birds.' It also has an adventurous love life and, according to Birds Britannica "includes a good deal of partner swapping and embraces polygyny (2 females with a single male), polyandry (a female with 2 or 3 males) and polygynandry (2 or 3 males sharing 2, 3 or 4 females)." I noticed that this one was chasing another mate in a tree, so maybe will be the first of many!

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