House Sparrows: You Know Them, Should You Hate Them?
Even the Audubon Society online field guide describes their chirps as “shrill, monotonous, noisy” …rather value-loaded descriptors, huh? Even for the purportedly unbiased world of science, there is always a socio-cultural context, and in the North American birding world, House Sparrows have been made into the small but mighty villain.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a “birder” and couldn’t identify the species by name, I might even be willing to bet money that you’ve seen one — perhaps at a bird feeder, in a city park, or among dropped food scraps at an outdoor café. The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is one of the most widespread birds across North America and the world. However, this cosmopolitan originally hails from Eurasia and northern Africa, where it is known as the English Sparrow.
They were introduced into the United States in the mid-1800s in the hopes they would provide all-natural insect pest control; unfortunately, this decision was poorly informed, because House Sparrows mostly eat seeds and grains. Ultimately, this introduction ended up causing more ecologic harm than good. In the birding world, they are known for aggressive behaviors such as forcing native species like bluebirds, tree swallows, and purple martins from nest boxes. Because of the House Sparrow’s tenacity and strong bill used to crush seeds, these interactions can be fatal. In fact, because of its non-native status, the House Sparrow is one of the few US birds not protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits possessing or selling any parts/eggs/nests of any migratory bird without a permit — though there are several non-migratory species on the list, so the law basically applies to all bird species native to the US.
So how did the House Sparrow become so prolific? Like many introduced species that achieve the “invasive” label, it is an “opportunistic” or “generalist” species — meaning, this little bird isn’t picky when it comes to potential food or housing. It can be found basically wherever humans are: from rural farmland to bustling big cities. In fact, House Sparrows grew into their anthropocentric niche alongside human society’s advancements, ever since we first learned how to farm — evolving strong bills and digestive systems to be able to include tough, starchier food in their diets such as wheat and corn (as well as more urban treats like French fries and pizza crust). No wonder they have also been considered an agricultural pest over time — not only for eating crop seed but because the previously mentioned native birds they displace are insect-eaters considered beneficial to farms.
If you’re concerned about the damage House Sparrows inflict on other bird species, especially if you’ve set up birdhouses to support local birds, there are ways you can mitigate this conflict. Defenders of native bird species test and compile an assortment of methods to prevent/manage House Sparrows in nest boxes; these range in level of involvement from waiting to put up nest boxes until after most House Sparrows make nests to trapping and killing them. And while killing for conservation may sound counterintuitive or hypocritical, it’s a multifaceted controversy that’s not all that uncommon in the conservation field. (Of course, this can warrant questioning of why we consider certain species as more desirable and when other species “don’t belong”…but that requires a longer discussion on environmental ethics and invasion ecology.) If directly killing one type of bird to save another is not for you, you can still contribute to bird conservation through action and advocacy around other known major causes of bird declines, such as synthetic insecticide use, habitat loss, and domestic cat predation.
While the House Sparrow invasion causes much frustration in North American bird conservation, I believe it’s important to acknowledge that birds are often the gateway into one’s initial interest in the natural world, regardless of the species. I am definitely biased here since early childhood birdwatching was my own catalyst into lifelong environmentalism, but many studies do report numerous benefits to allowing children more time outdoors — even if this means being outside within a concrete jungle.
The outdoors naturally engages the senses — feeling the rush of a cool breeze, watching dappled sunlight burst through tree canopies, smelling the first blooms of spring. For young children, notorious for high energy and ever-shifting attention, nature experiences provide an outlet for their innate curiosity. In particular, spending more time in nature helps hone children’s observation skills, encouraging concentration and critical thinking, and encounters with animals help children (and adults) build the empathy that underlies nature caring.
From my own personal experience as a nature camp counselor, I know it is possible for a whole group of young summer campers to achieve silence in order to allow birds to return to feed comfortably at birdfeeders just a few meters away. The ubiquity of House Sparrows, as well as their willingness to approach humans in search of crumbs, means it’s not too hard to find a teachable moment in the outdoors.
So, if you have a young child/grandchild/niece/nephew/babysittee, I challenge you to take a pause the next time you’re together in a park, parking lot, or just walking along a sidewalk to observe sparrows hopping and flitting about. Try posing questions that get them to hypothesize about bird behavior. They can learn and decide later how they really feel about these little continent conquerors.
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