I am holding a meteorite in my hand when something plummets to the ground just a couple of metres from my feet. I step back, trying to puzzle out what it is. At first, it’s just a brown, writhing shape, but then it fragments into three birds – house sparrows. One pings off into the sky, leaving a female pinned down by a male.
Courtship often begins with a bobbing display dance from the male, but it can turn into a rough and tumble chase like this, sometimes with several males pursuing one female. This might be followed by mating. Seconds later, they both fly up from the ground and vanish out of sight.
