Seeing a sparrow
A sparrow you watch for a minute may well be taking a bath in dirt: house sparrows scoop out dust bowls and flutter in them to keep their feathers in order. Some of the best upkeep looks messy from outside.
What it may mean
House sparrows take baths in dirt. On a dry afternoon a little group scoops out shallow bowls in a flower bed or a dusty corner of a playground and flutters in them until their feathers are full of grit, then shakes it all out. The dust helps clear away feather mites and excess oil, so getting dirty is how they stay in good order. People have habits like that too, ones that look messy from outside and keep them working: the hour in the garden that wrecks your nails, the long run in the rain, the friend you can vent to without polishing a word. House sparrows have lived beside people so long that they seldom nest far from buildings. In Japan, a 1903 encyclopedia says, a sparrow walking one foot before the other, like a duck, was an omen of great prosperity, since sparrows nearly always hop.
Depending on how you saw it
A sparrow at a cafe table
At outdoor cafes, sparrows hop onto empty chairs and tables and snatch crumbs inches from people's plates. For a bird that weighs about an ounce, it is a bold life. Where are you bolder than your size would suggest?
Two sparrows flying into the house
Japanese lore collected in 1903 said that a pair of sparrows flying into a house brought good fortune in with them. Most people still grab a towel and steer them back out the window. When something good arrives uninvited, how quickly do you shoo it away?
Why it happens in nature
House sparrows were brought from Europe and released in New York in the early 1850s and spread across North America. They live almost wherever people do, nesting in eaves, signs and vents, eating seeds and crumbs, hopping rather than walking on the ground, and bathing in dust as well as water, often in noisy groups.
What folk beliefs say
Japan
In Japan, to see a sparrow walking by, putting one foot before the other like a duck, was an omen of great prosperity.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 700. View the page
Japan
If a pair of sparrows flies into the house, good fortune will follow them, according to Japanese belief recorded in 1903.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 1 (1903), vol. 1, p. 417. View the page
Christian tradition
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that two sparrows are sold for a farthing, yet not one of them falls to the ground without the Father.
Source: King James Version, The King James Version of the Bible (Project Gutenberg #10) (1611), Matthew 10:29. View the page
To reflect on
What do you do that looks messy from outside but keeps you in good shape?