: How do you know what the sparrows are thinking? I mean that sincerely. If you're watching them, you attribute dialogue to them because they're obviously communicating things to each other.

@Smith147

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How do you know what the sparrows are thinking?

I mean that sincerely. If you're watching them, you attribute dialogue to them because they're obviously communicating things to each other. They just don't use speech or other formal language.

You know what they're "saying" because their body language and interactions with each other and objects around them makes it clear to any observer. As well as clear to the other sparrows.

Perhaps your solution isn't in the description, but in the narration.

If you were telling this story to a friend, you'd add in the dialogue in a way where no one would think the birds spoke in words.

The brown sparrow was eating his bread crumb when the gray one plopped
right between his and his food and told him "mine!" She glared at him
until he backed away then she began to eat the bread. He snuck
towards her, trying to grab a small bit that had fallen off, but she
cheeped "back off dude!" until he gave up and flew away.

So allow your narrator some poetic license. If a human observer can tell what the sparrows are thinking, express those interpretations through your narrator.

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