The reason is......they're all over here! Lots of Starlings! Lots
and lots of House Sparrows--I'll glance-think I'm seeing something
cool....look closer and...no--it's either a Robin, a Starling, or a
House Sparrow. Your emails made me smile--and realize--maybe I should
appreciate them more.

Julia
Okanogan
On Mar 23, 2010, at 7:57 PM, Pterodroma at aol.com wrote:

> 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
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