Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Common House Sparrow

By: Tom Berg

Few birds are more common in North America than the House Sparrow. That’s somewhat unfortunate, since house sparrows are not a native species here. They are actually native to Europe, Asia and North Africa. They were introduced to America in 1851 to help control invasive caterpillars in New York state, and after more releases on the West Coast, by about 1900 they had spread across the entire continental United States.

Since house sparrows are not native, they are not related to the rest of our North American sparrow species. They have a larger head, a thicker beak and a shorter tail than most other sparrows you might see.  Male house sparrows in their breeding colors are very striking-looking, though. They have a black beak and a black eye-stripe, with a bright rufous-brown patch on the side of their head and a pure gray cap on top. Their back and wings are brown with alternating stripes of brown, black and white wing bars.  Females are more drab-looking.

House sparrows love living around people, and they make their nests in all kinds of strange places. It’s not unusual to see them nesting inside cavities on the sides of buildings, inside billboards, under the eaves of houses or even on protected spaces on rooftops. They are also notorious for taking over nest boxes meant for bluebirds or other native birds, often killing or driving off the original occupants.

These opportunistic birds will eat almost anything, although they enjoy visiting back yard bird feeders and eating sunflower seeds, cracked corn and other seeds. Blocks of suet are also attractive to them, especially if the suet contains seeds or dried mealworms. They are also effective predators of a wide variety of insects, and when invasive Japanese beetles infest their home turf, the sparrows are happy to dine on them, too.

Like many birds, house sparrows can be plagued by mites and other parasites. They combat these parasites by taking frequent dust baths. The dust minimizes the mites and helps remove excess oil from their feathers.  These hardy sparrows are obviously doing well and they are here to stay!

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