House Sparrows - seem to have a bad reputation.

[bronco]

This is the first year I have participated in the Bird Feeder Watch program and have been chatting to friends about it and and what birds frequent my feeders.

Back in November I had a few House Sparrows and now I have 25+ at any one time (and there are also a bunch more chirping away unseen in my neighbour's hedges).

One of my friends explained that on his country property has had House Sparrows enter other birds nests/nest boxes and kill the young. I have done some web searches on the subject and there is a bunch of stuff that is not too flattering to this bird - kills chicks - takes over nests - destroys nests - gets into eaves - under decks - and generally make themselves unwelcome. There is also lots of info in defense of it.

I wonder if other forum members have experienced the "dark side" of this bird's behavior?

[razorboy]

If you enter the terms 'house sparrow invasive species' into a search engine, you will have several days worth of reading on the subject.  House sparrows in North America are responsible for heavy losses to eastern bluebird population, as well as hitting swallows and martins.  The house sparrows kill those birds and take over the nesting sites.  Many people kill as many house sparrows as possible, in order to protect native species.  There is not the same problem in Europe, where the species is native.

'house sparrow + bluebirds'  will also provide informative search results.

[Dinusaur]

I think we got it wrong when we say that Grackle is the backyard bully; that honor should go to house sparrows. They took over my backyard and kept most of the other birds away from the feeders. Reluctantly I've taken the feeders down.