Why are House Sparrows an Invasive Species Where Introduced 2018

Everything you said of the house sparrow behavior I've witnessed. They pecked to death 5 young in a tree swallow box. Another year they killed the young of our nesting bluebirds, dropping them outside the hole onto the ground. Every year they tormented native birds, but once I began controlling the population, things got a lot better. Once you can manage the population you really give native birds a chance.

Wow, I never knew any of this! I saw loads of them while growing up in NY (1960s-on) but never knew they were so aggressive and destructive. I just thought they were boring common birds.

I am 75 now but growing up in the 1950s there were House Sparrows and Starlings in great numbers. Growing up I had no idea these were invasive birds. The sparrows lived in a space where our 2nd floor back porch met the house. There used to be apple trees in former pastures where starlings nested in holes where dead branches rotted out and who knows what carved out the cavities. In the 1970s and 80s efforts were made to encourage bluebird houses on people's properties. Volunteers monitored the houses put on public lands and where they set up bird houses on private property to prevent invasive birds from using them. All the old apple trees are gone now and today in my area (NW Ct), bluebirds are back, and I haven't seen a starling or house sparrow in years now. An aware public made the difference.

Excellent video Jeff! I appreciate how well you explain everything so we can have a complete understanding of what you are doing and why. As usual, nice job on editing. Please say "hi" to Westen for me!

I have my purple martin house zeroed from my kitchen window and can easily hit with my pellet gun any English Sparrow or Starling that tries to nest in the house.

We had no idea. We are losing finches, and now bluejays are coming around but we thought they were the bullies. Will watch closer. Thanks!

In my backyard, we have about 5 pecan trees that all the birds love. We have thrashers, mockingbirds, cardinals, chickadees, loggerhead shrikes, cedar waxwings, pileated woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, and I think even red-cockaded woodpeckers. We also see red-bellied woodpeckers, a small woodpecker with a lot of white and black coloration, house finches, butter butts, and chipping sparrows. Then we have grackles and starlings, which are my least favorite. Oh and blue birds and im pretty positive I saw some tree swallows. And im sure ill see some more in the summer and spring.

Thank from Chile. Great video

Great video Jeff!!! Thanks for teaching me how to trap these invasive birds. We now have native birds able to nest in our natural cavities as well as nest boxes. Please keep spreading the word about helping our native birds by eliminating the invasive birds.

My brother has a pet house sparrow that he raised from a baby. The bird sleeps under a pile of rags for a bed and comes to my brother when he calls it. The bird will lay there on his shoulder and lick his face with its long skinny pink tongue. He shares his meals with the bird. It also picks up coins and leaves them all over the house. Whenever my brother isn't around it makes baby bird crying sounds. (When he goes into the bathroom, it waits for him on the floor, outside the bathroom door.) The bird's behavior makes me think of a rat or a puppy dog more than a bird.

Super excellent lecture

I live in a place where studies on house sparrows show a decrease in numbers , in countries that house sparrows are native to. Their population here is being threatened by a new type of invasive species. Mynah birds have increase in number greatly. A few years ago I've rescued hey small house Sparrow . I was never able to release her. She was never able to fly. Her build is very strong! When she gets angry , the bite she gives it's quite strong. She lives a happy life with me and my family the past 4 years. Attacking fingers and being mischievous but very loving .

I began trapping House Sparrows in the late spring of 2020 after watching them prevent Eastern Bluebirds from using a nest box I put in my yard. Since I began, I have trapped and dispatched over 340 of them as well as almost 40 Starlings. As a result of early success, I had a pair of Eastern Bluebirds during the summer of 2020, which raised two clutches successfully, and as of today (4/8/21), have a breeding pair of Tree Swallows.

I controlled house sparrows in my home in Brazil, eliminating them with a slingshot when I was a kid. Then I moved to the neighboring streets doing the same and telling the folks not to feed them, since they are an invasive species. Before that there was only a couple of resilient native species besides the sparrows and their huge flock in my parent’s yard. Nowadays there are tens of different species of canaries, parrots, periqueets, native doves, and so on.

Hi Jeff, We live in Kingman, Az. Next to our property is a huge arroyo. For the last year we have been nurturing our local quail population. We mostly feed them with black oil sunflower seeds. We made the mistake of throwing out some cracked corn. When we started doing that our quail population was close to sixty . Shortly thereafter the sparrow population grew quickly. We thought that they were so cute, but our quail population has diminished severely. We are not seeing any baby quail groups like last year. None. The sparrows appear to be over 100 by rapid count. I watched one of your sparrow education videos and for now we have put out no feed whatsoever for the last three days. So, now there are only a handful. Last year it was the pigeons which we have successfully trapped down to just a few. They too were overpowering the Gambel's quail. I hope it isn't too late to trap the sparrows here. That huge flock must be somewhere close by. Do you know anything about that ? Like how far away would they go when the feast disappears ? Do they scout the area frequently ? Your table idea makes great sense. Thanks a lot.

I maintain 3 tube feeders, 1 nyjer seed feeder, 2 suet cake feeders, a bird bath with bubbler, a box feeder, and one nest box. Each of them color coded to the range wheel on my Hawke scope that sits atop a HW30s in .177. Quiet and superbly accurate. I welcome all sparrows, the more the better, but they have a habit of dropping to the ground with holes in them around here. Maybe one day I’ll see my first ever blue bird or purple Martin take up residence. If/when that happens, I’m not worried about sparrows taking over the nest box since I’m certain they will all come down with a similar case of “hole-itis”.

I see tons of people raising these invasive birds im like oh come on man

These have been nesting in my box for years. I just figured they're some common local bird. Recently we have a pair of bluebirds in the neighborhood. Never seen those around here before. (California, Eastern SF Bay area)

I love house sparrows

Late last summer, a female bluebird laid her third clutch of nests in my nesting box. After a couple weeks of incubating, all of the sudden she wouldn't leave the nest. Every time I got close to the box and took a peek into the hole, she was on the nest and I didn't want to disturb her. After a few days, I my feared the worst and opened it up with her still inside... She was dead on the nest. I couldn't find any visible wounds, but I have to assume a house sparrow got one lucky peck in and killed her on the nest. I was pretty bummed out. This year I've started using Van Ert traps every time I see one messing with a box, I got one this morning.