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House Sparrow

Status Introduced, locally common resident. Breeds. Most abundant in cities, towns, and communities where agriculture flourishes. Its numbers are conspicuously lower in more sparsely populated districts and reach the vanishing point in heavily forested areas and open, barren country. Just when this alien reached Nova Scotia is unrecorded, but Piers noted that,

"In the '50's, somewhere about 1856 or 1857, Charles and Rupert Eaton, of Lower Canard (Kings County), large potato growers and exporters, imported a number of English Sparrows from New York or Mass. (not sure which) and set them free, and soon R.W. Starr found others among his orchard at Starr's Point."

Coues (1890) states that it first appeared on Cape Breton Island in November 1889, coincidentally with the completion of the Cape Breton railroad. House Sparrows rapidly spread over Nova Scotia and increased in number up to the early 1900s, but with the advent of the motor car replacing the horse (the spilled grain from feed bags and in stables and the undigested grain in the horses' droppings were significant food sources), and the closing of many small farms, numbers began to fall. For example, on Christmas counts from Halifax West, 2500 were recorded in 1958, but only about 1700 in 1982 even with twice as many observers; in Yarmouth, 263 House Sparrows were reported on the 1968 Christmas count, but only about half that number in 1984 although there were 30 observers instead of two.

In contrast, the small population of these birds on Brier Island has remained fairly constant in recent years at 50-70 individuals. It is not widely recognized that the House Sparrow shows migratory tendencies. For example, transients have appeared twice in spring and twice in fall on Sable Island, since a small breeding population there became extirpated in 1971 (McLaren 1981a).In addition, many have been recorded since 1970 during five springs and seven autumns on Seal Island, 10-15 km from the nearest mainland sources.

Description Length: 12.5-16 cm. Adult male: Crown gray; chestnut stripe extending from eye to nape and broadening over sides of neck; wing coverts chestnut, with single bar of white; cheek grayish white; chin and breast black; lower breast and belly dirty or grayish white, the flanks washed with darker gray. Adult female: Above buffy gray, darker on crown; light buff line over eye; wing bar buff; chin light gray; breast darker gray; belly lighter gray.

Breeding Nest: Composed of coarse grass, weed stems and trash, lined with fine grass and copiously with feathers, usually from the nearest poultry yard. Nest sites vary greatly, though holes in trees, Tree Swallow nest boxes, crevices about buildings and the mud nests from which they have driven the Cliff Swallows that built them are commonly used. Eggs: 4-7, usually 5-6; white to brownish white, finely marked with olive over the entire surface. Probably three broods are raised when nothing interferes with the success of the first and second. Evidence of early nesting activity was noted on 18 February 1946 at Wolfville, when a male and female took turns going in and out of a swallow nest box. On 4 March 1941 a female was seen gathering grass for her nest. A nest containing seven fresh eggs was examined on 29 June 1927 at Wolfville.

Range Introduced to North America about 1850, it now occurs in most settled parts of the continent.

Remarks Chapman (1934) mentions that it was liberated at Brooklyn, New York, about 1850-52, and was largely confined to the cities of the Atlantic states as late as 1870. These dates tend to support those already cited from Piers' notes, and point to New York City as the probable source of the birds the Eatons imported.

Although over a century has passed since it was first liberated in North America, it has never shown complete independence of man. Its greatest density of population occurs in towns and villages, and in rural districts it makes its headquarters about farm buildings, seldom foraging far beyond the limits of cultivated lands.

This bird's general unpopularity has been brought about by some of the undesirable traits it exhibits. For example, this bird's habit of fighting with much-loved swallows for possession of the nest boxes placed to attract the swallows to gardens in spring has made it unpopular. Despite this, the House Sparrow is a beneficial bird because its food in summer is largely insects that plague the farmer.