Where's Dad?

This is one of the young sparrows in the box outside my window at the office. He's waiting for his next meal. The mother was on her own today, working twice as hard to feed the insatiable appetites of this young fellow and his siblings. The male has been a dutiful parent, so his absence suggests he may have come to grief. There is no shortage of food at the moment, as the mother was back and forth every minute or two, sometimes she collected a beakful of seeds at the feeder 10 feet away, and shovelled that into the hungry gapes. The brood will fledge in a day or two.

The weeping birch was being blown about in the wind, so it was impossible to get a view without some out of focus twigs and leaves.

I'm way behind with comments, I'm sorry. I was exhausted after our exertions in the mountains yesterday. I also have a streaming cold and have felt very off form today. I never know where my colds come from, I went right through the winter without one, and then from nowhere one suddenly appears. Not bad enough to be man flu though.