Don't care to get into the native versus non-native debate and historical
ancestry, but House Sparrows do indeed displace other native bird species
with their aggressive behaviors. The are not just urban - they like
residential and rural habitats and they commonly destroy eggs of swallows
and bluebirds, and do kill those same species by attacking them inside nest
boxes. The latter is not rare, but a regular/annual event where those
species overlap in occurrence.

Bob Altman
American Bird Conservancy
311 NE Mistletoe
Corvallis, OR 97330
baltman at abcbirds.org
phone/fax - 541-745-5339

-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Darlene
Sybert
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 1:57 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] House Sparrow

From: David Hutchinson <flora.fauna at live.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] House Sparrow

>Introduced and alien species, it is true, can stir up the blood. As a
>restoration volunteer in Discovery Park, Scots Broom was a target of
>annoyance.But now I have achieved peace with Cytisus scoparius, recognising
>that it does well in distrubed and poor soils, making its own nitrogen. It
>also provides cover for nesting and feeding of many small birds and
mammals.

And there is even more reason to make peace with this lovely little bird.

Because I spent my childhood in the Midwest where House Sparrows are one
of the most common birds, it always seems strange to me for people to be
so concerned with it's alien-ness. After all, its ancestors have
probably lived in the USA longer than the ancestors of most of the
birders in the Pacific Northwest. And it is a rather attractive bird,
unlikely to displace any native NW birds since the HS tends to hang out
in urban areas and to frequent bird feeders without chasing away other
birds. If it becomes established in the area, it will certainly
increase the numbers of the Great Backyard Bird Count...
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