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House Sparrows: the birds who like us best
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Posted by editor Mon Dec 17, 2007 13:40:19 PST
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0 responses 0 comments One of the most common birds in the more settled areas of Tehachapi is a vocal, rambunctious little songbird that was imported from England in 1850 and has since colonized almost all of North America: the common House Sparrow (Passer domesticus).

These small, stout-bodied birds are one of the most frequent visitors to backyard bird feeders in town, and can also be encountered in parking lots, school yards, outside eating areas, etc. House Sparrows have done very well in the 158 years that they’ve been here and theirs is definitely an immigrant success story.

Until fairly recently, House Sparrows were still referred to as English Sparrows, which seemed a little inaccurate since over 100 successive generations had lived on American soil without ever returning to the Mother Country. “House Sparrow” is both more appropriate and descriptive, since these birds are most plentiful around human habitation and absent from wilderness areas.

House Sparrows and other urban birds, including European Starlings and Rock Pigeons, are often viewed negatively because they are non-native and have adapted to the concrete jungle. I guess some people think that cities are good enough for humans to live in but are unfit for birds.

I applaud those birds that can tolerate the stressful and often unhealthy conditions of large metropolitan areas. Those House Sparrows picking up discarded pieces of french fries at a pier or an amusement park are doing us a favor by cleaning up the trash.

The many native predators that dine on House Sparrows, including Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, seem to have no objections to the sparrows’ taste or their presence in this country.

House Sparrows are not closely related to our native sparrows but are considered Old World Sparrows and have more in common with weaver finches found in Europe. The House Sparrow is a cavity nester, and they have aroused enmity by displacing some native cavity nesters, including bluebirds.

When no suitable nesting cavity is available, House Sparrows will essentially build their own by creating a sprawling enclosed nest with a side entrance. Even when a House Sparrow pair does find a good unused woodpecker hole, enclosed eave, open attic vent, etc., they still haul in so much grass and discarded feathers to line the nest that you can tell whose nest it is by the debris below.

House Sparrows are not solitary birds in the slightest: they form noisy, chattering little flocks in which everyone seems to be minding each other’s business. They like to do things communally, and will feed, bathe and hide from predators as a group.

House Sparrows are one of a small group of North American species that take dust baths almost every day, even after having just bathed in water. They find an area with very dry, fine soil and scrape out small circular depressions the size of half an orange and then flutter madly and spin inside this dry wallow with their feathers fluffed. The dust bath that results is believed to serve at least two purposes: it removes any excess preen oil to keep the birds’ plumage maintained and may help discourage bird lice.

House sparrows eat primarily seeds and insects, with the young fed primarily insects. One of the reasons these birds were introduced in the first place was to help with insect control.

In the wild, most small songbirds like House Sparrows live fewer than two years, though the current record for a wild House Sparrow is 13 years, two months. A House Sparrow in captivity, however, lived far longer and survived for 23 years. Removing the main threats of predators and harsh weather can allow these little cheepers to live much longer.

Though often credited with causing some native songbird populations to decline, the House Sparrow population itself is considerably lower than it was around the turn of the 20th century. The switch from horses to automobiles apparently deprived House Sparrows of a reliable source of grain and their numbers are lower than they once were.

I like these busy, bustling little birds and often find them where there are no other birds competing for food or nesting space. They may indeed have impacted some native species at some times in some places, but our world would be quieter and emptier without them.

Have a good week.








 


 

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