Too many house sparrows (1 Viewer)

[frrobert]

I live in Indiana in an urban area and my neighborhood is inundated with house sparrows. I currently have one feeder with black sunflower seeds and the house sparrows will leave the feeder alone. The neighborhood has robins, cardinals, a northern flicker, starlings, grackles, and a swarm of sparrows. The sparrow swarm certainly limits the variety of native birds.

I would like to see more native birds. Would removing the sparrows from the equation help at all? Or since I live in an urban area am I fighting a loosing battle?

Note to those in Europe: If you would like your sparrows back I am sure the members in the US would gladly send them back to you.

Thanks,

Robert

 

[Merlin]

I live in Indiana in an urban area and my neighborhood is inundated with house sparrows. I currently have one feeder with black sunflower seeds and the house sparrows will leave the feeder alone. The neighborhood has robins, cardinals, a northern flicker, starlings, grackles, and a swarm of sparrows. The sparrow swarm certainly limits the variety of native birds.

I would like to see more native birds. Would removing the sparrows from the equation help at all? Or since I live in an urban area am I fighting a loosing battle?

Note to those in Europe: If you would like your sparrows back I am sure the members in the US would gladly send them back to you.

Thanks,

Robert

We will swop them for Grey Squirrels

 

[frrobert]

We will swop them for Grey Squirrels

That is fine if you take the starlings back too. Until this all can be arranged here is a link to squirrel pie, https://www.mass.gov/info-details/how-to-prepare-and-cook-squirrel-meat , the recipe is on the bottom of the page.

 

[emc]

I have a lot of sparrows in my yard and I haven't noticed it stopping other from birds visiting. When I used to do a species count I counted well over 30 species of birds in my backyard in a year. Don't know if that's considered a little or a lot but I was amazed at the different kinds of birds that were in my back yard because I only noticed in my sparrows until I started observing with binoculars the birds passing through. If I had more patience I could probably spot a lot more

 

[Merlin]

That is fine if you take the starlings back too. Until this all can be arranged here is a link to squirrel pie, https://www.mass.gov/info-details/how-to-prepare-and-cook-squirrel-meat , the recipe is on the bottom of the page.

Thanks for that advice frrobert.

regards
Merlin

 

[BilltheBirdman]

We will swop them for Grey Squirrels

Try the 'Magic Halo' the sparrows will disappear for sure. One dome, 4 paper clips, string, and 4 bolts.

 

[BilltheBirdman]

I have a lot of sparrows in my yard and I haven't noticed it stopping other from birds visiting. When I used to do a species count I counted well over 30 species of birds in my backyard in a year. Don't know if that's considered a little or a lot but I was amazed at the different kinds of birds that were in my back yard because I only noticed in my sparrows until I started observing with binoculars the birds passing through. If I had more patience I could probably spot a lot more

Build the 'Magic Halo' and the sparrows will vanish! One dome, 4 paper clips, string, and 4 bolts.
Since I hung this with my feeder I have not seen one sparrow near my feeder now for 10 days after
40 years of hating the little pests.

 

[IlonerBirder]

Robert, I feel your pain! I’ve been in the same boat, watching my feeders turn into a full-on sparrow fest. I set out food hoping to attract beautiful native birds, but it seemed like every sparrow in the neighborhood had RSVP’d. Cardinals, finches, even woodpeckers—they’d all come by, take one look at the sparrow swarm, and fly off. I seriously thought I was fighting a losing battle, especially living in an area packed with sparrows!

But I finally found a few tricks that helped balance things out. I swapped in safflower seeds (sparrows don’t love them), and it actually started making a difference. I also tried using feeders with short perches and those weight-activated ones—sparrows struggle with them, but the cardinals and finches can still dine in peace. Plus, adding a bit of distance from open spaces helped; sparrows seem to love those wide-open areas.

If you’re looking for more ideas to keep those sparrows from taking over, I found this article super helpful: How to Get Rid of Sparrows. It’s packed with all the tips I’ve tried, plus a few more I’m planning to test out. Give it a shot—who knows, maybe you’ll finally get some peace at the feeders! Good luck, and here’s to seeing more of those native beauties.