The Humble Sparrow, a bird that is now on the red list. I don't recall any threads our photo's of these delicate little birds.
I took a few photo's of these often taken for granted beautiful little birds, I have a flock of about a dozen that come every day.
Thought I would share the experience of my flock with you all.
Male House Sparrows are easily recognised by their grey crowns and variably-sized black bibs but females might be more difficult. However, nearly all the other dull brown birds with thick, conical bills have streaked rather than plain underparts.
Regards Buzzard
Nature Is Amazing - Let Us Keep It That Way
Great to hear that they are thriving in the West Midlands but sadly they have declined quite considerably in many areas and, in some, are almost absent altogether. The decline is most likely due to loss of suitable habitat meaning less food, especially for the youngsters, and a lack nest sites. Changes in the way we farm such as harvest and grain storage may also be factors. We're not entirely sure why the declines have been quite so steep but these certainly mean that the house sparrow qualifies as a red-listed species - I am sure that this seems incredible to those who can remember this 'cheeky chappie' as being extremely numerous indeed. Research is beginning to throw up a few answers as to how we can help the sparrow so, fingers crossed, we will soon be reversing the downward trend and house sparrow populations will increase again.
Watch out for swifts
Lovely pictures !!! We had a good number here in the spring and summer months feeding there young. A mixture of house and tree sparrows but they tend to disapear for the winter months ! Anyone know why ? We have a good amount of feeders and bird food is put down daily, Btw... are Dunnocks and Tree Sparrows the same bird ? I have been lead to believe that they are ?? thx for help with this !
Neil
If it aint broken, dont fix it !.... all good things come to those who wait !
Hi Neil
the dunnock is sometimes called a 'hedge sparrow' (which is somewhat confusing!) although it is a completely separate species. See here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/d/dunnock/index.aspx
Tree sparrows are similar to house sparrows but have chestnut heads (not grey) and male & female are almost identical (I learnt that here recently!!)
Tree sparrow: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/t/treesparrow/index.aspx
House sparrow: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/h/housesparrow/index.aspx
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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Well that certainly sorts that out ! Thankyou very much for the info ;)
Great topic Buzzard, and excellent photos :o)
House Sparrows do seem to be a somewhat under rated bird at times and I cannot understand why - they are such little characters! I like nothing more than to sit in the garden or the conservatory and listen to them chattering away.
Also being in the West Midlands I can vouch for the House Sparrow being in abundance.
As I have mentioned before, we have a colony of over 30 in the conifers around our garden (they're the neighbours' conifers though and I dread them doing anything to them), on the walkway I have noticed serveral colonies dotted about in various bushes.
They do like cover that's for sure, I too have a 'Sparrow Corner', which is a collection of 4 feeders by their conifers and other than for the patch of dirt in the border they don't stray too far into the garden.
Unknown said: They do like cover that's for sure, I too have a 'Sparrow Corner', which is a collection of 4 feeders by their conifers and other than for the patch of dirt in the border they don't stray too far into the garden.
Hi Paul,
Since the snow my little blighters have abandoned their corner and feeders, where they have been since I gave it to them in the spring. They have taken over a privet shrub on the other side of the garden and are feeding on the ground - right out in the open. This seems unusual behaviour for them. It has been suggested to me on another thread that maybe they are after a different sort of food, the sort I scatter for my ground feeding birds, but I also put this food in a feeder in their own corner - totally ignored now!!
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Susan H said: Hi Paul, Since the snow my little blighters have abandoned their corner and feeders, where they have been since I gave it to them in the spring. They have taken over a privet shrub on the other side of the garden and are feeding on the ground - right out in the open. This seems unusual behaviour for them. It has been suggested to me on another thread that maybe they are after a different sort of food, the sort I scatter for my ground feeding birds, but I also put this food in a feeder in their own corner - totally ignored now!!
Hi Sparrow,
sorry I missed your message!
Oddly enough my House Sparrows have taken to eating off the floor too and generally haven't been eating as much from the garden - although they're still active in the tree as I've heard them!
I feed the same food in all my feeders (was easier!) so not sure what they're playing at. But they've taken to only eating from the top 2, 4 at a push, feeding ports on the feeders. Most odd!
Have yours settled down yet?
No, they haven't settled down. They are still there, as I see them on the ground and flitting about in the hedge. There are still at least 20 of them. But they haven't been near their own feeders or hedge for ages. They have 2 feeders, a flat tray on the fence and a globe feeder.
I bought a new flat tray which was put up yesterday on the side of the garden they have moved to, and have moved the globe feeder over there as well. But still today they have ignored these and fed off the ground. What they were eating was food left over from the day before because I deliberately didn't scatter any new food on the ground today. They seem happy enough as they are chirruping away. I just find it odd.
What do you feed your sparrows?
it is odd behaviour isn't it?! I wonder why they're doing it.
I feed my sparrows the RSPB No-mess Sunflower Mix, which they used to love and empty the feeders daily. Now I only half fill them maybe twice a week. I've ordered a small bag of Feeder Mix Extra too so I can try them on that, they do get bored with foods as I've changed them before.
They're still in the tree making as much noise as before, but they just don't seem to be eating as much here...but they're going to the neighbour's for bread which I find really annoying, lol!
I had a sneaking suspicion people in the area may be putting bread out due to the cold weather, rather than being bothered to go for seed. Birds like bread, and will eat it until they are full in preference to what is good for them, just like me and chocolate I'm afraid. Next door also has feeders up, and he normally has sparrows on his feeders. I can see them easily from my office window, but even his feeders are untouched at the moment.
I feed mine sunflower hearts and a seed mix, both of which they have always loved. Not now. They seem to prefer the mushy mess the starlings have thrown to the ground, some of which was buried under the snow but has now re-surfaced.