FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Re: House sparrows

["Ben Yandell" <by@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you for your thoughtful email.  I'll respond one last time publicly,
mainly to say thank you.

I've personally struggled with some of the same issues in the past, between
my own bluebird houses and my father's martin houses, for example.  As you
say, there doesn't seem to be a good solution.  To use a different example,
are we supposed to watch Kirtland's warblers become extinct, or do something
about cowbirds?  (Although... debate continues about both the role of
cowbirds and the effectiveness of cowbird abatement programs.)  What about
feral cats or Norway rats that have newly arrived on an island, and on and
on?

I hope I didn't sound as though I think I know the answers.  I honestly
don't know what the best choice is with all these human-created dilemmas.  I
believe that somewhere in our decision-making, though, we have to find room
to consider not just species and ecosystems, which are obviously critically
important, but also individual animals.

Your attempt to find a humane method of killing the house sparrows tells me
that you're trying to find the same balance.  I appreciate your reasonable
response.

Ben Yandell
Louisville

-----Original Message-----
From: birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of j arnold
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 8:35 PM
To: by@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Birdky
Subject: [birdky] Re: House sparrows


Mr. Yandell,

I sent a private e-mail to the man with the house
sparrow problems and also what I hoped was a private
e-mail to the woman who was asking about house
sparrows.  (I didn't mean to send it to all.
Apologies!)

We see no declining numbers of house sparrows on our
farm, and although I hadn't read that the U.S.  was
experiencing a decline in the numbers of house
sparrows, I had read that  Great Britain was.

What we have observed is the male house sparrow coming
out of a bird box after pecking the eyes out of a tree
swallow. We have seen many adult and young, both
bluebirds and tree swallows, pecked about the head and
body until they were dead or dying.

The male house sparrow falls in love with a house and
nothing will make him leave. Destroying a nest seems
to make him more aggressive and to then begin to
attack the surrounding bird's nests.  We had one male
last year who sat on one house calling for a mate
until the middle of August. He fought off every
bluebird and tree swallow who attempted to use the
box.

Do you have a bluebird trail? When a person has gone
to all the trouble to set up houses and monitor them
for the bluebirds, then have to fight english house
sparrows all summer, it is very disheartening. Once
you see what the male sparrow has done, it is very
hard not to kill him.

When we do manage to trap a house sparrow, we put him
in a plastic bag and spray automobile starter fluid,
which contains ether, in the bag. There is no other
trauma to the bird and seems to us no worse than
trapping for banding except the end result is, of
course, death.

We have had many bluebird boxes and a martin house on
our farm for 25 years and if we hadn't worked to
protect the bird houses I wonder how many bluebirds or
martins would have fledged. We are doing what has been
recommended by the North American Bluebird Society in
their magazine for years, and we thought we had found
a fairly humane way to dispatch house sparrows.

There is added pressure for housing from house wrens
and also tree swallows, which are new to this area for
about the last 15 or more years . Last year only one
of our 11 houses was used by bluebirds (only three
babies fledged) because the rest of them were filled
with tree swallows, wrens and house sparrows.

You do have a point and we agree with you to a certain
extent, but think that "nature" is manipulated in many
ways. The feeding of wild birds comes to mind. We
don't like to kill the sparrows and only wish there
was another way. If you know of one, please tell us.
The only other option I can see is to take the bird
houses down. We would have no house sparrow problem
then.

Judy Arnold
Shelby Co., KY

--- Ben Yandell <by@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Coincidentally, this month's issue of Birding
> (American Birding Association
> magazine) has a note about the difference in British
> and American attitudes
> toward the house sparrow.  The species is declining
> dramatically in both
> Great Britain and the US.  According to Birding
> magazine, in the US, house
> sparrow numbers are down 60% in breeding bird
> surveys since 1980.  The
> British have a prize ready for the person who
> figures out why house sparrow
> numbers are dropping.  We devise new ways to kill
> them.
>
> I realize that house sparrows are not native to this
> continent.  Neither is
> homo sapiens.
>
> I guess it comes down to whether you value only the
> species or also the
> living individuals of that species.  I worry about a
> world where we've
> destroyed the natural habitat and then revile the
> animals that can survive
> in the new habitat we've created.  Where "nature" is
> what we manipulate it
> to be.
>
> I'm no fan of introduced species -- especially those
> that come to dominate
> their new home.  I'm just not convinced that we are
> good at deciding which
> animals are acceptable and which aren't.
>
> And somewhere along the line, we seem to lose our
> humanity.
>
> Ben Yandell
> Louisville
>
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx

================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS==============

The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign 
your messages with first & last name, city, & 
state abbreviation.
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birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-------------------------------------------------- 
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with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx