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House Sparrow Behaviour (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Sancho
- Start date
When I moved here in 2002 I was stunned to see a large carpet of house sparrows through my window or patio doors even before I ever started feeding them. In the summers we always noticed the odd black headed reed one now and then in the middle of them. I thought it meant a very old sparrow. I regret I never took photos showing the vast number of them but you think its forever, it was actually years later I noticed the carpet of them was getting smaller each year. I do have to discipline myself to putting out large tumbler of good seeds about twice daily or much more in bad snow etc as hoover up is a great description. Of course I always have peanuts too. I love the noisy chattering of them in the Hawthorns because it only lasts for so long about twice daily and then total silence for you to hear the rest of the birds. Not sure but Im guessing its after feeding time they chatter as loud as possibly can and then thats it silence for hours. I love the silence after the end of the chattering. Time then for the robins, coat tits, redpolls, goldfinches or anything about to have their turn singing and thats one of the things I love about sparrows, rather accommodating birds.
Yet in the bigger picture there is no doubt that numbers are slowly decreasing and most I would see about my garden is 20 to 30 even with feeding them and yet 10 years ago it was 60 to 70 easily. I recall my Hawthorns dotted one after another by sparrows in the summer especially. I can have more lesser redpolls now than sparrows often in winter, although only small number of redpolls stay with me all summer. In Spain the sparrows will light on your table for crumbs so close its unbelievable but I find my sparrows are the last bird almost to feed close to you. If I sit quietly redpolls will time and time again be the first birds to fly to a feeder very close to me, then coal tits, goldfinches, chaffinches, robin, collared dove in that order and sparrows last always and first to go if you move by accident even. Blue tits are very wary little birds too. My mother in Omeath complained recently that she has so few sparrows now. Anyway a very interesting post indeed.
Studies in the US have also shown a steady decline in migratory bird numbers over the past several decades, usually about 40% but as much as double that is some instances. It may be that is a general pattern, that bird numbers are falling everywhere, presumably reflecting habitat loss and human impact. It would make for a good research topic for some large NGO, to get the measure of how well our stewartship of our home is doing.
That's a wonderfully evocative description of the simple joy of watching birds feeding in your garden, Dolce! Sorry to hear numbers are falling in your neck of the woods too. I worry for my own kids, who are going to enter adulthood in a world bereft of so many simple joys. Like a big flock of noisy sparrows squabbling over the bird-table.
squidge
Wha Whassssat
The House Sparrows in my back garden are at their noisiest early in the morning and then at evening time. It is great to hear all the chirping and bickering.
Today there were at least four newly fledged birds as they could hardly fly. One of them hit a fence landed on the ground and waited a few seconds before leaping again to the top of the fence to be fed by a male HS.
They were also copulating on one of my trees so I may stock up on more bird feed for the future youngsters. My next door neighbour who has mature hedges and bushes has HS nesting in her garden aswell as wrens and a pair of blackbirds with already fledged chicks.
As my neighbour says to me she provides the habitat and I provide the food. I'm trying to grow bushes and hedges but the dog keeps eating them.
A couple of pics, I'll try to get more with the family groups.
Ger.
Today there were at least four newly fledged birds as they could hardly fly. One of them hit a fence landed on the ground and waited a few seconds before leaping again to the top of the fence to be fed by a male HS.
They were also copulating on one of my trees so I may stock up on more bird feed for the future youngsters. My next door neighbour who has mature hedges and bushes has HS nesting in her garden aswell as wrens and a pair of blackbirds with already fledged chicks.
As my neighbour says to me she provides the habitat and I provide the food. I'm trying to grow bushes and hedges but the dog keeps eating them.
A couple of pics, I'll try to get more with the family groups.
Ger.
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JTweedie
Well-known member
I tend to hear them more than see them these days. Very, very occasionally, I'll see one or two venture away from the cover of hedges and have a quick dust bath or find some tiny scraps to eat on the pavement but not more than a metre or so from the hedge.
If people in my area feed the birds, then I'll see them more regularly at the feeders in my garden or in the neighbour's gardens. If there's no food left out then it can be several weeks between sightings in my area, even though they are probably there but keeping a low profile.
For all their reputation as being skulking birds, the local dunnocks are much more easily seen. First of all, their calls give them away, but there's usually one or two being quite active nearby, including venturing out onto the pavements. They will also venture into the garden and hop around me if I've been there for a while and not made a lot of movement.
If people in my area feed the birds, then I'll see them more regularly at the feeders in my garden or in the neighbour's gardens. If there's no food left out then it can be several weeks between sightings in my area, even though they are probably there but keeping a low profile.
For all their reputation as being skulking birds, the local dunnocks are much more easily seen. First of all, their calls give them away, but there's usually one or two being quite active nearby, including venturing out onto the pavements. They will also venture into the garden and hop around me if I've been there for a while and not made a lot of movement.
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