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Ancestor: Blue Sparrow

Size: 20 cm beak to tail (wingspan almost the same at 21 cm)

Dietary Needs: Insects, snails, worms, fruit, seeds from common plants such as catnips and smaller descendants of hemp, and from some grasses such as millet descendants. Opportunistically will hunt smaller vertebrates, particularly nestlings of other birds, or pink mice before they grow their teeth. Will also occasionally pick apart carrion if it hasn't gone too putrid. The adults can survive off this mixed diet but growing chicks cannot digest some of these foods, requiring a stricter diet of freshly caught invertebrates, starting with smaller insects such as gnats and working up to larger invertebrate prey.

These birds have quite a rapid turnover of feathers, which makes the occasional scavenging worthwhile. In raiding nests sometimes they consume eggshell and feathers as a nutritional supplement. They cannot fully digest fur and feathers however, absorbing near-trace-amount of nutrients before either excreting most of the material semi-intact or by vomiting a dry pellet. This has an unintended benefit of pushing out some gastrointestinal parasites that get caught up in the tough keratinous material as it passes through the GI tract, which in turn improves nutrient absorption for the bird.

Life Cycle: Males attract females with a more complex tweeting "song" than that of their ancestor, though nothing close to matching the complexity of  some Earth songbirds. The song is a repeating "riff" of notes a few seconds long each repetition, which is learned and has regional variations. Females don't learn this song out of a seeming disinterest in doing so, but they are drawn to the sound when ready to search for a mate, more so the more loud, clear, in good time and articulate the song is. 

Upon closer interaction, males attract females using iridescent patches on their cheeks and wings, and contrasting pied colouration. The black feathers also have a bluish-green iridescence in strong sunlight, so the males will use breaks in the branches where sunlight streams through as spotlights under which to pose. Poses are quite generic, such as standing rigid with side facing the female or sometimes back entirely turned to her, or fluttering the wings to flash the iridescent patches in a strobing pattern. Due to competition between males it is typically older "peak" males that are most likely to find a mate and form a long-term bond with their mate. Some young birds' first relationships with another young inexperienced mate end in failure and separation, but this adds to their experience which increases their chance of success in future.

Courtships take a lot of effort and energy but pairs that stay together for more than one breeding season form strong bonds, helping to ensure each other's survival as well as increasing the drive to want to find that same mate again and again year after year. They are usually monogamous but some particularly fit birds can spread their energy over multiple nests. They also have to be smart and sneaky, as birds of this genus usually express jealousy when they perceive that their mate is spending time and energy on another bird completely unrelated to them. Mates will employ superficially punishing actions such as pecking when they become jealous as this sometimes is a deterrent, but it can also just make their mate more sneaky, or make them leave (which may be better for incompatible mates).

The males and females both work cooperatively to build their nests out of the sticky debris of the hemp trees and any resin or sap they can collect as an adhesive. This allows them to build very clean, robust, bowl-shaped nests. Mating pairs help each other clean adhesive off their beaks as well as help each other to separate themselves from sticky building materials. This necessary act doubles as an emotional bonding activity.

The nest is located in the hemp trees and nesting behaviours are reinforced by the presence of other pairs of their species doing the same thing. The nest is carefully lined with non-sticky insulative material, such as clumps of animal fur (sometimes boldly ripped from the animal itself), feathers (some they find, some they strip from themselves) and dry leaves and grass. Provided the parents were thorough with the lining, no chicks should get stuck to the nest. A chick stuck to the nest won't physically develop properly due to movement restriction and will suffer damage over time to the adhered area, with the end result being death before having a chance to fledge.

How many broods of eggs they lay in a year depends a lot on the latitude and the seasonal patterns, as well as the exact species of hemp tree sparrow. A typical brood is three. A shorter green season might limit brood number to one or two, with more chicks at a time who compete in an early elimination process, usually leaving one strongest chick. In warmer latitude three or four broods are possible, usually with a chick number no greater than three. Younger offspring will hang around and interact with their younger siblings and learn by example from their parents how to raise young properly. Older siblings may sometimes bring food. 

Other: Although they use the stickiness of the hemp tree as a tool, it can also be a hazard. Closing shut of the beak is a serious risk, as well as accidentally getting material stuck to their feathers. It is just awful to clean. The birds take regular morning and evening flights together as a flock to sources of water, taking aggressive baths and scraping their beaks against rocks and gravel, or scratching it off with their feet but this is sometimes not enough. Outside of this time they might use dust to muddle in, using it to capture the resin to slowly remove it over time, but this also doesn't always work effectively. Fats and oils do effectively separate the hemp resin from the bird's beak, but they are difficult to find in quantity. Oils are too thinly dispersed throughout vegetative matter seeds included. The best source is a carcass that is not too eaten or spoiled from which fatty tissue can be extracted to use for cleaning. It's a continuous struggle throughout the nest building season, but something they don't have to deal with much once the nest building is done (except for repairs) and not at all outside of breeding.