Managing English House Sparrows around Bluebirds

[hawkeyewx]

There are typically roughly 30 house sparrows that roam around near my house. Some days they spend a lot of time in my yard, other days they don't. I often see a bunch at a guy's black oil sunflower feeder at the top of my street. Yesterday, one of my close neighbors refilled his feeder with what appears to be the junk mixed seed. That was basically a loud dinner bell for every HOSP in the area. There must have been 50 or even 60 of them hanging out in the serviceberry trees halfway between our feeders. They consistently move as a flock. They mob the neighbor's feeder, then flock back to the trees, then mob the feeder, back to the tree, etc. Thankfully, the monofilaments I have hanging around my black oil sunflower feeder keep most of them off, so a flock of 30 of them will hang out on the ground under the feeder while a few to several will ignore the monofilaments and get onto the feeder. A few of them will then thrash seeds around and dump them overboard. I really should try adding some kind of mesh over the seeds so birds can pick individual seeds out to eat, but can't thrash them around.

When you only have a few chickadees and a cardinal or two visiting your feeder, but see big flocks of HOSPs flying around and mobbing feeders, it really hits home how much these things have completely taken over the urban environment.

[Birding Bunch]

The freezer is cleared out again... yay! We now do not have to drive as far to pass it on.

I received the local Audubon's newsletter yesterday. They are seeking more bluebird trail monitors. In the article, it talked about the "illegal introduction" of HOSP and EUST. I understand that now it would be illegal, but was anything in regards to wildlife illegal in the 1800's?

[fishlkmich]

Originally Posted by Birding Bunch

The freezer is cleared out again... yay! We now do not have to drive as far to pass it on.

I received the local Audubon's newsletter yesterday. They are seeking more bluebird trail monitors. In the article, it talked about the "illegal introduction" of HOSP and EUST. I understand that now it would be illegal, but was anything in regards to wildlife illegal in the 1800's?

It was not illegal at the time, but would be a major issue if it happened today. I found this:

"The house sparrow was first introduced to Australia in 1863 at Melbourne and is common throughout the eastern part of the continent,[79] but has been prevented from establishing itself in Western Australia, where every house sparrow found in the state is killed."

This is proof that we could do something about this if we simply wanted to. It is not a priority in the U.S. I visited a neighbor who lives about a mile away. He was working around the barn. Not sure how many cattle he has, but he has hundreds of HOSP. It is an easy walk to his place. I NEVER see a HOSP in my yard. It took years of trapping and shooting, but they don't even visit. I now have permission to do some shooting down the street.

[EllenW]

I was told that the HOSP's like to hang around farms to eat the animal feed that the animals don't eat. My friend put netting in the ceiling of her barn so they can't roost and that has kept them away.

Glad you can help your neighbor with his HOSP problem fishlkmich.

[Birding Bunch]

Every time I go into town, I see all the so-called development ever creeping toward me. There is still a long ways to go, but in the mean time old homesteads are being tore down with all their trees only to make more row crops.

I sometimes think that the undesirables will be all we have left because of their ability to thrive in such conditions. Or the few times our natives are able to take advantage of our development, they are then deemed a pest to be gotten rid of. I think Crows, Vultures, Mourning Doves, Geese, etc. Too many of a single species is not welcomed by many for some reason.

[linrose]

BB, do you see hedgerows between the fields of soybean and corn? We did when we lived in an old farmhouse in Indiana. I only remember old wild pear trees and sumacs and brambles. That helped the wildlife somewhat but without the grasslands some of the birds did suffer. On our ten acres we had a five acre hay field that helped some of the birds that used it for cover. Our long driveway way was lined with mulberries both the white and the red and osage orange. Birds did eat the fruit of these trees.

In that area of Huntington County there were huge farms, the roads were built on a grid running north-south and east-west. Farms took up much of the land inside those intersecting roads and were lined with hedgerows to keep the drifting snow away from the roadways. The prevailing winds in winter usually came from the northwest which created BIG snow drifts over the north-south roads making driving impossible. Wider hedgerows could have helped with that problem but most farmers wanted to utilize every acre for farmland.

If farmers could be convinced to plant deeper hedgerows it would alleviate the problems of snow drift and help the wildlife too. Living there was the only place where I could see for miles over the flat landscape and watch the storms come in to the north of us, including tornadoes which was scary but awesome in a way, very dramatic. I learned what that little inset on the TV showing Doppler radar was for just after moving in!

[EllenW]

Maybe this farm bill will help protect wildlife and provide incentives for farmers.

Farm Bill | NRCS

[hawkeyewx]

Wow, that Western Australia info is interesting. When I checked out the ebird range map a couple weeks ago I wondered why the western half of Australia was HOSP-free.

[fishlkmich]

Originally Posted by EllenW

Maybe this farm bill will help protect wildlife and provide incentives for farmers.

Farm Bill | NRCS

This might help a little bit, but since we have decided to increase the use and add new neonicotinoids to farming in the U.S., I seriously doubt that anything good is coming in our lifetime. I have three varieties of milkweed in my yard and never have Monarch cats. I'm on a little lake and the dragonfly population has dropped significantly since I have lived here. We have passed the tipping point. We are getting close to having half of the species on Earth become extinct. Humans and nature do not get along. Nature will win soon.

[EllenW]

It is very discouraging fishlkmich. The use of chemicals has to stop. I hope nature will win. We need to keep advocating for wildlife.