Dennis Paulson writes:

House Sparrows used to be common in our yard, with up to 20+ at once at the
feeders. They are usually absent now, so i was actually excited to see a
lone
male at a seed feeder twice this week. Not exactly a cosmic sighting, but
doesn't it show you that everything is relative? I don't know why they
have
declined, unless it is the loss of breeding sites. They usually use a
crevice
of some sort, and perhaps people around here are covering over all their
crevices. Or there is some other reason.....

Well, you're one up on me! The latest FOYIY bird I could dredge up
recently (#36) was my first ever Hutton's Vireo (#83) a few days ago and I am
still patiently waiting and watching for the FOYIY House Sparrow to show or
utter a chirp. I rarely ever see House Sparrows around here any more
(Eastgate, S of 1-90), whether in the yard or around the neighborhood. When one
or a small wandering flock does show up, it's become something of a novelty,
and they never stay long nor visit the seed feeder. There still are
pockets here and there where they seem happily established but even before
Dennis posted his thoughts, I have had a vague sense for some years now that
perhaps those pockets are becoming fewer and fewer and maybe House Sparrows
are declining. It's hard to imagine "loss of habitat" even if we are all
shoring up crevices and cracks and other suitable spots in buildings, there's
still plenty of what I would imagine as abundant suitable habitat
everywhere not to mention all the strip malls, fast food eateries, and such where
they are sure to congregate. Perhaps one contributing element might be that
House Sparrows could be losing ground to competing House Finches for nest
sites along with any number of other factors.

I've been doing regular morning 3-mile loop walks through the Lake Hills
Greenbelt (Bellevue) since January and even in there, I have to consciously
THINK, watch, and LISTEN for House Sparrow if it is to get listed at all
for the walk. It generally boils down to one spot now where they are nesting
in a bird house hanging from the corner of a private home on the south
side of Larson Lake. Otherwise, it's hit or miss in just a couple other spots
where likely those same ones may be ranging. Hugh Jennings has been doing
regular year round bird monitoring along the same Lake Hills route
year-round for an impressively devoted 21 years now! It might be interesting to
look at Hugh's long history of House Sparrow records to see if there might
actually be a trend toward decline going on. If so, one must wonder why.
Eeek! I can see it now. Threatened, endangered, nearing extinction? Oh
my!! :-))

House Sparrow is just one of those 'trashy' birds most (or all) of us
probably don't really take serious or care much about at all, much less notice
beyond just an expected easy tick mark somewhere along the way for the day
or trip or whatever, after which, largely ignored. It would be interesting
to see on a greater scale what others in 'tweeterland' see or sense with
respect to House Sparrows. Some no doubt are inundated with them, maybe
your ONLY yard bird if in downtown Seattle, or at "Dick's" on Broadway where
they are usually a dime a dozen scrambling for scraps and everyone feeds
them. In rural areas, with assorted livestock, feed lots, barns, sheds, and
such, I would expect that they remain at least in local pockets plentiful as
ever where food and shelter is always dependable.

Even European Starling is another that seems in fewer numbers than 10 or
20 ago, and I still don't even have that one on my 2010 yard list yet
either. Up until about ten years ago, I could always count on them turning up
quite suddenly enmass as they would with such an irritating racket, sweep
through the backyard wooded creek and ravine to harvest the ripe
salmonberries. Then, after a week or two, poof, they were all gone not to be seen or
heard from again until the next year apart from the occasional flyover stray
or something. The salmonberries are all still there, probably more than
ever, yet the once predictable hordes of Starlings don't come through anymore
and haven't for about ten years.

Perhaps something really is going on with our usually less than totally
welcome nonnatives that is quietly and yet so easily being overlooked in the
din of focusing on the rich abundance of all our regular natives. Anyone
else care to share your observations and perceptons?

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA