Spoggy and Norbu
I'm a big fan of Spoggy the sparrow in Tasmania, Australia. In fact, he's not one sparrow's 'unofficial mascot,' and we're honored to call his rescuers and caretakers Susan and David good friends. Spoggy is now a full-grown male of three-and-a-half, and we celebrated his third 'hatchday' at the turn of the year with a birthday video lovingly made by Susan.
Just recently, Susan put together some wonderful new videos of Spoggy's first few months, in the hope that they "will help others to identify and age a baby sparrow swiftly." The first video features an adorable Spoggy from just twenty-four hours old, sadly orphaned by a raid of currawongs on his nest, through one month. It's amazing the transition his little body goes through in just the first couple of weeks ...
The shots of Spoggy cuddling contendely in David's hand and pecking at the video camera are very cute, as are the clips of Spoggy taking his first water bath and grooming David's beard in the second video, featuring Spoggy from one to three months:
Among many, many other needy animals whom Susan and David have cared for on their rural property, they rescued another sparrow earlier is year. They believe 'Norbu' (which means 'precious gem' in Tibetan) was thrown from his nest by his parents due to a genetic weakness, but they cared for him and patiently released him back into the wild. Two months later, Norbu suprisingly returned to their lives and home, but very sick. Our prayer group even prayed for Norbu, at Susan's request.
This video tells the rest of Susan and David's miraculous story with Norbu, which continues quite happily as you'll discover:
While it took some time for Spoggy and Norbu to adjust to living together, as would normally be the case between two adult male sparrows, they now coexist quite happily as you can see in another recent video, "Spoggy the Sparrow (& Friends) - Playing and Having Fun (2011)" (see screenshot below).
Many thanks to Susan for the love and care she put into each of these videos, set to beautiful music from her friend Holly Kirby, and for graciously sharing them with us. As always, Susan strongly recommends visiting the website Starling Talk for a wealth of advice on feeding and caring for rescued baby sparrows and starlings.
July 11, 2011
Reader Comments (2)
Thank you dearest Ben for your lovely feature on the two sparrows that currently share our house with us. You are a true friend and inspiration. We had 12 sparrows come to us last Spring (all on our own property) with 2 passing away and the other 10 able to be released back to the wild but one came back to us a bit like a boomerang as the Norbu story illustrates. Love to all who read this and I so hope you enjoy the shows. Please feel free to share them anywhere you would like to.
Susan, David, Spoggy and Norbu (and the other unreleasables currently with us) in Australia
Happy to, Susan, and thank you for your warm note. It was fun putting this post together with the new videos, and again, I'm grateful to you for sharing them with us, and for your example of compassion toward every animal which comes your way. May God bless you all, Ben