Blue sparrow mystery: Unique bird confounds 専門家s

By Richard Shears for MailOnline
Updated: 21:34 BST, 26 April 2009

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Has anyone heard of a blue sparrow?

I have one - it's popped into my garden in Sydney a couple of times in the past few days with a flock of ordinary brown sparrows and tucked int o the seeds in the bird feeder.

At first I thought I was seeing things.

That sparrow's blue,' I said to my wife, Isobelle.

'Oh don't be silly,' she said after it had disappeared for a moment into the feeder. She hadn't seen it, of course.

Mystery: The blue sparrow spotted in Richard Shears's garden in Sydney

Then it popped its 長，率いる out.

'Goodness - that sparrow's blue,' she said.

I ran indoors to 得る，とらえる a camera but by then it had flown away with the 残り／休憩（する） of the flock.

The next day it was 支援する, flitting around the bird feeder. This time I managed to 得る，とらえる a few pictures before it flew off again.

Wondering if the sparrow had fallen into a マリファナ of paint or something stupid like that, I 大きくするd the photograph and was left in 絶対 no 疑問 that the bird's feathers were definitely a natural blue. Even its beak was 色合いd blue.

I asked around. No, 非，不，無 of my friends had heard of a blue sparrow.

I checked the internet. Lots of 言及／関連s to blue sparrows, but they were the 指名するs of cafes or they were 製図／抽選s or pictures of brown sparrows against blue skies.

There were blue buntings and bluebirds and blue jays, but no blue sparrow. Now I didn't feel foolish about calling in the 専門家s.

I sent one of the photos to renowned New South むちの跡s ornithologist and bird carer Mirek Lanparski.

'This is amazing,' he said. 'I've nev er seen anything like it. I thought at first that perhaps someone had dyed it, but looking closely you can see that's not the 事例／患者.

'And who would want to catch a sparrow, dye it blue and then let it go again? In any 事例／患者, those are natural colours and that's very, very peculiar.'

The ありふれた House Sparrow (passer domesticus) was introduced into Australia from Britain in 1863 and it quickly 設立するd itself as the towns and cities grew.

The males are dark brown, the 女性（の）s a はしけ brown. No blue.

保証するd that I wasn't on a wild sparrow chase, I called other ornithologists, just to make sure that my feathered 訪問者 was unique.

Two members of the New South むちの跡s Field Ornithologists Club agreed they had never heard of a blue sparrow.

'全く new to me,' said club 公式の／役人 Mr Allan Ible. 'Are you sure it hasn't been Photoshopped or anything like that.' No, nothing like that.

Then I spoke to another member, Mr Allan Morris, a former 国家の parks officer, who was mystified at the news that a blue sparrow 存在するd.

There are birds that have colours in their 遺伝子s that 現れる from time to time, but the sparrow has no blue in it.

'This is やめる strange. I've seen all 肉親，親類d of unusual birds, even albino ones, but I've never heard of a blue sparrow.'

Perhaps Daily Mail readers can throw some light on my curious feathered friend.

In the 合間, I'll be spending some time in the garden, throwing seed around in the hope that it might 支払う／賃金 another visit....?