Teams of birds on a sports field

This morning I went to buy the bread I use for my work lunches, and a few other necessaries, before taking a walk around Coxs Bay Reserve. I had quite forgotten that there would be lots of people at the Reserve because of the sports fields. Fortunately, there was somewhere to park the car and start my walk. A very pleasant walk on which I saw a white faced heron in long grass across the creek, a Little Shag fishing in Coxs Creek, and not a lot else.

Until I was right at the end furtherest from the road. Almost the only one of the sports fields which was not being used for Touch Rugby, or soccer. Mixed teams of men and women were often playing all men and seemed (without serious spectatoring) to be doing well. The soccer was mostly children.

The unused field was partially occupied (close to the path I was on) by what looked like a whole lot of sparrows, which were startled and flew into nearby trees. Except there were flashes of gold. Which is when I realised that the sparrows were competing with a big group of goldfinch. They mostly had their heads down except for when running about. 

Frustrating to the photographer while fascinating to the bird watcher, as they were sharing the same piece of grass on which to feed. At which stage I realised that there were also Yellowhammers. Seemingly mixed in with the other two "teams", yet clearly each was a semi cohesive group, hence my use of the word team