Junior sparrow

We put nest boxes on our house, although we already had sparrows making homes under the wiggly pantiles on the roof. They're a noisy bunch, but it's pleasant to watch them going about their lives while I have my lunch on the bench outside.
This youngster isn't long out of the nest; it'll be from a second or even third brood this summer. In a few weeks, it'll have moulted these fluffy juvenile feathers and grown a completely new set, rendering it indistinguishable from its parents. 
In this close-up shot, you can see how these baby feathers, grown in the nest on food ferried in by busy parents, are cheap, budget ones, good enough to get it out of the nest and independent, but not robust enough to last a winter. They're narrower, shorter and thinner than the ones it'll grow when it collects the energy to do so by itself.
It may be just a house sparrow, but it's still a remarkable little creature. You just have to look closely and investigate a bit to appreciate it.
Please excuse me. I am a biologist, after all...