The House Sparrow

 

Is the House Sparrow a pest? That depends on your point of view. The males (see below) are actually attractive birds, with their black bibs and gray foreheads, although the females (on the left) are very drab. But many people resent their use of bird feeders, their habit of picking away at spinach gardens, or their tendency to usurp birdhouses meant for wrens or bluebirds. They do all these things and more, but compared to true pests like Star Thistle, feral cats, and European Starlings, they are really a minor nuisance.

Let’s talk about one of our more common birds—found nearly all over the world. The House Sparrow, once called the English Sparrow, was a very successful introduction to the U.S. in the late 1800s by immigrants who wanted to bring a bit of the old country into their new home. The first birds brought over (at up to $500 per pair!) did not survive or reproduce. Eventually, they made New York’s Central Park their home, rapidly increasing their populations and spreading across the eastern U.S. They adapted quite well to urban settings—so well, in fact, that they became pests, and bounties were offered for them just twenty years after their introduction.

The House Sparrow has spread across most of North America and every other temperate region. On the positive side, they eat a lot of insects. Surprisingly, the House Sparrow is declining in England, one of its native homes, apparently due to a decrease in insect numbers. No doubt other birds are affected too, but since it is the most well-known bird in the British Isles, this decline is a concern. Why are insects declining? There is no single cause, but global warming, pesticide use, pollution, and habitat loss all play a role. Bird populations of many species are also declining drastically in the U.S., but I’ll save that for another blog.

I often get questions about how to keep sparrows, starlings, pigeons, hawks, blackbirds, or other species away from bird feeders, birdbaths, pools, backyards, or houses. It is difficult to create a habitat that is suitable only for the birds you want to see while keeping others out. We would all love to have a weed-free lawn and never deal with mosquitoes or gnats, but nature doesn’t work like that. Nature thrives on diversity, even if that includes things you don’t like.

I guess what I’m saying is that the House Sparrow, although not a native species, is now part of our ecosystem, and we should enjoy feeding and watching them just as we do other birds. When I was in college, I worked for a scientist who was studying the molting patterns of House Sparrows. He caught birds, dyed each of their tail feathers a different color, and released them. By observing them in the field or recapturing them, he could easily determine which tail feathers had been lost and replaced. We received lots of phone calls about exotic birds during this research!