[Tweeters] The Sparrow Wars-“still all men who wear a mustache…..”—-“Meet the Little Brown Bird That Holds a Mirror Up to Humanity | Audubon”

[houstojc at plu.edu]

Hello, Everyone,

 

I am late to the discussion, but I wanted to share that for many years we have only seen perhaps one bird or none from the House Sparrow group in our yard.   When we first moved to the Gatewood neighborhood in West Seattle, there was a large colony in the blackberries next door and on the edge of our yard.   The blackberries were removed.    The House Sparrows gradually relocated entirely. 

 

Our neighbors up the hill were the only ones with a strong community of House Sparrows.  Their home had eaves, and they had a garden full of old-fashioned plants and shrubs.   When the owners of the home passed away, and the property was sold and razed last spring,  there were some desperate-seeming homeless House Sparrows.   Within the last two weeks, a family of House Sparrows has  “moved in” at our house.   They seem to be roosting here as well.   Dennis’s comment on their  loss of  nesting areas is most interesting.  Changes made to our properties/communities do seem to affect them.   

 

 

Janeanne Houston

West Seattle

 

From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Dennis Paulson
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2023 10:00 AM
To: Alan Roedell <alanroedell at gmail.com>
Cc: Tweeters <tweeters at uw.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] The Sparrow Wars-“still all men who wear a mustache…..”—-“Meet the Little Brown Bird That Holds a Mirror Up to Humanity | Audubon”

 

I don’t think pesticides are responsible for House Sparrow declines, as they are primarily seed-eaters, and most of our seed-eaters seem to be doing fine. Perhaps a steady decline in nest sites, as we clean up the place, but it could be something else. House Sparrows have declined greatly in Europe, where they are native, and as far as I know, they haven’t come up with any clear ideas of the cause.

 

We had up to 30 House Sparrows at our feeders when we moved to this house in 1991, and for several years now we have scarcely seen one. A House Sparrow at a feeder is an exciting event! Same with starlings, although we see a few from time to time.

 

Dennis Paulson

Seattle





On Jul 13, 2023, at 9:46 AM, Alan Roedell <alanroedell at gmail.com <mailto:alanroedell at gmail.com> > wrote:

 

Very informative and interesting article.

I've noticed a steep decline in House Sparrow numbers in Seattle. Pesticides?

 

On Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 11:35 PM Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com <mailto:dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com> > wrote:


https://www.audubon.org/news/meet-little-brown-bird-holds-mirror-humanity


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