House Sparrow Decline

[Terry Suchma]

Dear Landlords,

What do you think about the population numbers of House Sparrows?

Some believe that their numbers are increasing while still others think that there is a trend in their decline.

Don't you just hate it when someone in martins says they don't have any problems with House Sparrows?

[Lou King]

Terry. I'm sure not noticing any decline in their population here at my place. I've been controlling them for over thirty years now. This spring, so far, is the worst I've ever seen. I have two USTs in my wooden North Star house. It's not unusual for me to catch two males at a time. Done that twice so far this year. I've never had this many English House Sparrows in my entire adult life. BTW, I'm not 63 years old, so it's been awhile. No, I don't really hate it when folks say they have no problems with EHS, or EUST either one. I just consider that person either very naive, or very very lucky. Oh yes. I do NOT eliminate the females. Only the males, since the females are so close in appearance to some other birds. CUL Lou

[Terry Suchma]

Dear Lou,

Yes, I agree with you in that I have not noticed a loss in House Sparrow population. The fact that they breed 2-3 or more times a season is one reason that their population remains high.

However, I take a tougher stance on all the House Sparrows, including the females as they are the prolific breeders. I don't find any confusement with the females with other similarly looking birds because they are the only sparrow looking bird type attracted to nesting inside martin housing and gourds.

Terry