Any experience with House Sparrows?

Hi all,

For a bit of backstory, I’ve been feeding and watching birds in my garden (North London) for over a year now.

I use 2 products from Roamwild (tube and window feeder) who specialise in squirrel/large bird proof feeders. The window feeder is rarely used by blue tits. So, most of the use is at the tube feeder and so far, it’s attracted blue, coal & great tits as well as the occasional robin. Dunnocks and wood pigeons are always on standby to clear up any spillage.

This past week house sparrows have found my feeder. A few male, a few female and some youngsters it seems (~6 in total and always in a group). I was surprised to see that these were classified in the UK as Red under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021).

I put out some coconut shell suets last year that attracted some Starlings and the House Sparrows’ behaviour is very similar. To their disappointment, Starlings are too big to use my tube bird feeder, but House Sparrows are small and light enough to use it. They travel in packs, they’re aggressive around the feeder, eat constantly throughout the day and hence have emptied the feeder within a few days.

Compared to what I see from my usual visitors, this is the total opposite behaviour! It seems their presence has also deterred my usual visitors which is a shame.

I will continue topping up my feeder of course, but I was wondering is this seasonal behaviour or is this group likely to stay for the long term now? I imagine they’re nesting in a nearby park. I’ve never seen them before until this week and have also reported the sighting using the BTO app.

From my research it seems the House Sparrows are sometimes considered pests along with Starlings. I’m not opposed to feeding them but was just curious whether this was common and likely to be the start of a new pattern. 

I should also add that I've noticed they often take seeds away in their beaks, presumably for chicks in a nearby nest.

All in all since they spend a large amount of time at the feeder as well as in my garden it’s allowed me to bird watch a lot more than I was able to before.

I look forward to reading your thoughts!

  • Thanks! I'm not sure how the family dynamics of House Sparrows work but they seem to be one big family that feed together. This started earlier in the year and then there were fledglings who were being fed by the parents. Now they seem to have grown and I'm pretty sure it's the same group but older.

    I put a nest box up in my garden in the summer that will hopefully be used next season, but I'm hoping they aren't aggressive towards whoever uses that. Pretty sure I read that they destroy eggs/nests unlike other birds. The hole size of the nest is pretty small and was designed for tits etc so hopefully that keeps the House Sparrows out!

    I'm slowly accepting that I can't control what comes into my garden but as long as birds are being fed it can only be a good thing!