[wisb] Re: House Sparrows - Colonial nesting in open in Lake Mills, Jefferson Co.
- From: Judith Huf <judith@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "chimneyswift1@xxxxxxxxxx" <chimneyswift1@xxxxxxxxxx>, "wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 06:05:59 -0400
Yes Karen,
I have seen this behavior on a trip to Arizona last spring. It surprised me
greatly too. There were a number of spherical nests like you described all in
one tree a rest area in the desert. I think I have a photo of it somewhere, but
I'm not in town right now, I'll try to dig it up later whenI'm home.
Judith Huf
Milwaukee
Sent from my iPhone
> On Aug 11, 2014, at 10:46 PM, Karen Etter Hale <chimneyswift1@xxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>
> This past June, I was very surprised to find at least 11 House Sparrow
> nests built close together, in the open, in one dense, thorny, ten-foot
> tall hawthorn shrub here in Lake Mills. These were all globular
> (spherical) nests with side entrances. There have always been numerous
> House Sparrows that keep up a continuous chattering in that area, but I
> assumed they were nesting in nearby structures. I never thought they'd
> be in a shrub that is essentially isolated as it's several yards from
> any buildings and bordered by several feet of blacktop on either side.
>
> Here's a link to some of the photos I tried to take of the nests.
> They're not the best, as the hawthorn is very thick, making it difficult
> to count or photograph the nests. I'm planning to go back once the
> leaves are off and try again.
> https://plus.google.com/photos/102295740065781614442/albums/6028318541087446353?banner=pwa
>
> Googling the topic produced very few results. But according to the Birds
> of North America:
>
> "Tolerance of neighbors allows communal nesting to occur in some cases."
> (McGillivray 1986).
>
> House Sparrows are "Fairly gregarious at all times of the year; breeding
> occurs in small colonies or in a clumped distribution." (Summers-Smith
> 1988) [which I took to mean nesting close together in places like Purple
> Martin houses].
>
> "In trees, forked or dense branching provide an anchoring platform for
> nests." And finally, "Nests in trees are usually globular structures
> with a side entrance, a squashed ball 30-40 cm. in diameter. Neighboring
> nests may share walls."
>
> If any of you has any experience with this, I'd love to know about it.
> It sure took me by surprise.
>
> Karen
> --
> /Karen Etter Hale
> Lake Mills, WI
> NW Jefferson County
>
> chimneyswift1@xxxxxxxxxx
> *****
> *Making time for birds
>
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