What Was This Sparrow Behaviour...?

Question

Can someone please explain to me what was going on?

A female sparrow was holding onto the back and neck of a male sparrow very tightly with her beak. He looked like he was trying to get away by hopping around frantically along the ground as he dragged her along.

Another male sparrow was hopping along after them with his wings out, tail down, and head turned up, looked like he was in a begging pose.

Eventually the first male got away from the female and flew away. The 'begging' male hopped towards the female, wings down and all.

She lunged at him and held onto his neck as he fell onto his back and was trying to fight her off. He struggled around and got out of the bite and flew away with her chasing after him.

Uh... so what was that all about? o__O
Can someone explain this behaviour to me, thank you. :)

Answer 1

Sounds like the two males are juveniles and are still trying to take advantage of their mother feeding them. Adults will eventually drive out the juveniles so that they will fend for themselves. I have seen males viciously attack their young in an attempt to drive them out of the territory..especially after the adults have a 2nd clutch that they are tending to.

Answer 2

It sounds like two male fledglings are still trying to get their mother to feed them. The parents will often end up pulling out a few head feathers when they think it's time for the fledgling to move out.

Answer 3

I think they were having a domestic dispute -- or the mother bird was trying to wean her fledged babies and drive them off. I've seen English sparrows wrestling around and chasing each other. I think they're just ornery little birds.