House sparrow, male

I've had tons of these lively guys for years now(Jacky)...but this summer they disappeared after the neighbours nailed a plastic snake to the fence between our yards...but happy to report that since I've resumed filling the feeders (I don't feed them when there's natural food around) they've started to return. I don't think their absence had anything to do with feeding or not...they still love to eat the echinacea, monarda and echinops seedheads...Perhaps these was a feeder in another backyard and they didn't have to work for their dinner? Who's to say?