The English Sparrow

Read more about English Sparrows.

       This undesirable immigrant, for whom no one has a good word, was introduced into North America by European settlers who wanted familiar birds about them. They believed the English sparrow would help in the destruction of the gypsy moth, which had been introduced from Europe and had become a destructive pest. But the bird has proved to be far more of a nuisance than the insect pest for it eats comparatively few insects, and many of those consumed are beneficial varieties. Occasionally, when swarms of caterpillars have attacked foliage, the English sparrows have destroyed large numbers of the insects but seemingly only because they are so abundant and easily obtained.

       Another serious criticism of the English sparrow is that it usurps food and nesting sites from native birds. About seventy of our birds are molested by the intruder. Bluebirds, house wrens, and purple martins have found their nesting boxes appropriated; even robins have been molested. In fact, the belligerent habits of the English sparrow have resulted in the disappearance of desirable birds in some areas.

       The sparrows are communal in their housing arrangements. Numbers of them will use the same rafter, or the same hole they have torn in the roof. The surroundings become littered with dirt and droppings.

       The English sparrow is not closely related to our native sparrows, which are meritorious citizens. It is a member of the weaver finch family, most of whose members are native to Africa. It has been called English because most of the birds introduced in other countries originated in England, in spite of the fact the bird is equally native to central Europe. The ancestral home of the weaver finches is Africa, and this hardy species seems to have spread to Asia and northern Europe a long time ago. So the English sparrow is neither English nor a sparrow. Some people believe we should rename it more accurately and call it the "house sparrow" or even the "weaver finch."

       Other countries which have suffered from its introduction are Canada, Mexico, the temperate regions of South America, New Zealand, South Africa, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands.

       This bird seems to have had the ability to adapt itself wherever it has been introduced. No other bird associates so closely with man and is so dependent on man's activities for food. Like other weaver finches, it is rarely found far from men's homes.

       Those city children who have few opportunities to study other birds can, by observing the English sparrow, learn much about bird life. Easily watched as it comes to the window ledge and builds under the eaves of the house, it exhibits many of the peculiar habits and problems common to birds. 

A house sparrow feeds it's baby. by Nat Bel

Learn More About Sparrows From The Web:

• Sparrow Birds Taking Sand/Ash/Dust Bath and Bathing and Dusting