I have a pyracantha bush in the garden, where about 24 sparrows hang out. I fill coconut shells with meal worms and throw some onto the bush to be caught in the leaves, which they seem to enjoy. There are also a couple of feeding stations in the garden. When food is low, all the sparrows sit in the bush, face the house and make a lot of noise. Today despite there being food at the feeding stations, there were no meal worms for them in the bush. They all sat in the bush, faced the house and made a lot of noise. None went to the feeding stations. When I went to the back door they fell silent. They flew off when I went outside and came back once the meal worms were in the pyracantha. There was no more collective chirping and they feasted on the meal worms. Are they talking to me or am I crazy?
I've done no scientific research into it, but amongst small birds, sparrows are definitely not, IMO, bright. There has been a noticeable change in them here in the last two days. The sun has been out, and although it's cold, there are plenty of signs of Spring. Behaviour changes as the days get longer and the weather improves. Sparrows are also wary of humans, so going outside and in does impact on their vocalisations.