This is killing me.
I am a feeder of birds. As
long as I can remember I loved filling feeders, spreading out seed, making sure
suet was in place in the winter. I
have always thought my Italian heritage led to this, “manga”, wild creatures”
trait. On the Cape, a chipmunk
need only turn its glance my way and I would be refilling his whelk shell full
of seeds. The snows of winter had
me re-scattering seed every time the old seed got covered up.
Here in Texas I continued the tradition, tube feeders,
platform feeders, and hummingbird feeders. I think I wrote about how the voracious white wing doves
were going to triple the seed bill by showing up in droves and eating round the
clock. I had to stop scattering
seed on the ground to slow the rate of seed disappearance and now I do have
fewer doves.
But then, about a month ago, maybe more, the dreaded house
sparrows flew by, found not only food but also a wonderful hedge of jasmine and
have decided they need look no further for the perfect home for their flock and
their ever-growing progeny. If you
know about birds you know this is not good. Immigrants who missed their familiar home birds here
imported house sparrows, under the banner of “it seemed like a good idea at the
time”, from England in the mid 1800’s.
Some claim they also were introduced into Central Park to help control
canker worm but as they are predominantly seed feeders this doesn’t seem in
retrospect like the brightest idea.
The birds became quite the rage and people throughout the country
thought they too would like these robust sparrows.
And so, over the ensuing years, they have multiplied
exponentially, a species that can have 4-5 broods a year will do that, and as
they are more aggressive than many of the other native song birds they are one
of the reasons those species are declining. I will spare you the details on just how aggressive they
are, there may be children reading along, but it is the reason they are now the
most abundant songbird on the continent.
Which is why I have taken the drastic step, a la Greece, of
denying benefits. I have cut my
feeding down to one tube feeder of sunflower seeds and one tray on the
porch. At first they missed the
millet but they seem now, of course, to be willing to eat the sunflower seed,
which is more costly. But I just
can’t stop cold turkey for the Cardinals still make a showing, and when the mob
of sparrows takes a break, the Chickadees and Titmice sneak in. Scrub jays and Golden fronted
woodpeckers make the sparrows scatter but the sweet little Least Goldfinch that
was new to me in TX flits by, chickens out and leaves. And I even have a
thistle feeder out for them if they would just spot it.
However, from what I read about House sparrows, getting rid of
them is a pipedream. Unless I am
willing to take up arms and start shooting them, or buy some expensive trap and
start catching and releasing them, which really only moves the problem
elsewhere, I shall have to just lament my fate and try to find something
interesting about this species.
For instance, I
read that the male sparrows with the larger brown “bibs” seem to be more
dominant. That males with smaller
“bibs” give way to the larger ones at feeders and that females won’t take being
pushed around as easily by the smaller bibbed males either. Interesting. And how does one attain more dark feathers on the chest in
the first place? Better nutrition?
Obviously, if any of you out there know of a nonviolent way
to convince them to leave, please let me know. I also know that when and if winter ever arrives, my resolve
will break and I will just have to spread my feeders about the property to
ensure everyone gets a chance to feed. I have a feeling my Italian traits will trump this
attempt at playing the Greek card.
And if I were a betting person I would put my money on the sparrows.
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