House Sparrows Feed Tree Swallow Orphans

[Evelyn Cooper]

This is one intriguing story. The male House Sparrow killed the female Tree Swallow and then the female House Sparrow starts feeding the babies. Bruce said he trapped the male House Sparrow and looks like another male has shown up and is also helping with the feeding. Both male and female share in incubation and feeding responsibilities of the young.
Written with permission from Bruce Macdonald

Bruce writes:

Here's one for the record books...!!! ... I think.....??

Just ten days ago, I was proudly telling everyone how effective my HOSP trapping was and how few I'd seen lately.

Friday morning, I noticed a pair of HOSP harassing a family of TRES in a Two-Hole box that Linda V had sent me years ago. Why the HOSP went after that box....??? There are three other vacant nestboxes within a 150 foot circle. All plainly visible.

I chased the HOSP away repeatedly. They persisted. When I came home Friday evening, I noticed that something was amiss. After checking, I found the TRES female(..??) dead in the box with her five one-week-old hatchlings. Her head had been badly pecked by the HOSP. The babies seemed to be OK. Vigorous, active, hungry.
The TRES male (?) stayed around for the next 12 hours but did not appear to be feeding or caring for the babies. He disappeared yesterday, midday. Haven't seen him since.

It is now late Sunday afternoon. The babies are still vigorous & active. When I open the box, they're alert, peeping, sitting up to be fed. they look just fine to me.
( How long will they remain viable if they're not being fed and cared for...???)

Now for the surprise....!!! Unless I am badly mistaken, the HOSP female appears to be feeding the TRES babies...!! She's in and out of the box, carrying food in and fecal sacs out. I trapped a male HOSP but cannot be certain that if he's the female HOSP's mate.

Anyone ever witnessed anything like this....???

Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario, south of Detroit, North shore of Western Lake Erie ( Only place in Canada where one must travel North to get into the USA )

Hi Mary....
The saga continues this morning...!!!??? I can't figure it out. The TRES babies appear to be OK, active, vigorous. The female HOSP is in and out of the box exactly as any parent would be during feeding a brood of young.

I've seen a male HOSP around the box, but have not yet witnessed him actually entering. I trapped a male on Saturday. At the time, I believed that he was the other half of the HOSP relationship. Apparently not...???

I'm wondering, do HOSP feed their young insects...?? or seeds...??

Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario, N. shore of Western Lake Erie

Tuesday - July 12th, 2008.... 96 hrs since Mom's death

Here's today's update.

There are four or five TRES babies, orphaned last Friday, July 11th, when the female was pecked to death by HOSP.
The male (?) TRES stayed around until midday Saturday.

Since Saturday, noonish, a female HOSP has been diligently feeding and caring for the TRES babies. (what about her eggs..?? Her nest..?? )
Today, Tuesday, July 15th, the female HOSP continues her motherly duties. The TRES babies appear to be doing just fine.

When you get near the box, they can be easily heard. When I touch the box gently, their activity increases. When I open the box, they're all stretching eagerly, mouths agape, hoping to be fed. Full of vim & vigor...!!

The box is in a difficult spot to photograph. Prior to fully leafing out, the Trumpet vine doesn't entirely conceal the nestbox. But now, the box is well hidden by the foilage. Yesterday, I did some minor trimming so that I could get a direct view of the entrance.

With my digital camera, I can get dim shots of the box, itself, but trying to catch Mrs Hosp flying in and out is next to impossible. I'm attempting to borrow a 'Digi-Cam' and try to record/document this whole crazy affair.

Thank you Charlene & Keith. I was wondering how long the babies would survive on a HOSP diet. But, if the HOSP feed their own young insects, the TRES babies should make it.

Do male HOSP feed their young....?? Very early this morning, before sunrise, there were definitely two birds going in and out of the nestbox containing the baby TRES.

Late last evening, dusk, a male HOSP was perched near the box. I didn't see him go inside. He sat, 'churring' very softly and quietly. He seemed to be nervous and was twitching his tail. He was there for perhaps 10 minutes, then left. ( I wonder if he actually mated with the female foster-mom...?? Perhaps he's frustrated because he's been "Deprived" of that pleasure...?? )

More to come.

Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario, N. Shore of Western Lake Erie

Wednesday July 16, 2008:
Good Morning Evelyn....

By all means...!! Please go ahead and use the story. This belongs to all of us. Most especially to regular contributors like you...!!

As far as me getting involved with the fledging, feeding, fostering, etc., ....I really have no intentions along those lines. If these were baby Condors, or some other threatened species, I'd view it differently. For the time being, I'm letting nature take her course. If some event comes up that calls for my interference, I'll deal with that at the time.

For your own personal update on this situation....
The HOSP feeding and caring for the TRES babies continues. Again, early this Wednesday morning, I noted that two HOSP were going in and out of the nestbox where the TRES babies are growing.

If I'm not mistaken, one of the two HOSP is a male. I have not been able to actually see and identify, with my own two eyes, a male HOSP entering or leaving the box. I'll keep watching, as time permits. Can you tell me if male HOSP are normally involved in feeding their own young...???

Please do remain involved. I appreciate your input...!!

Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario, n. shore of western Lake Erie

Stay tuned for more updates.

Evelyn
Delhi, LA

[Evelyn Cooper]

Hello all.... The TRES - HOSP adventure continues. The young TRES are now clinging to the inside of the box, looking out the door. I'm guessing that fledging will take place in the next few days.I did manage to get decent videos and 'still' photos. I'm having them processed and put on DVD's that I can run in my computer. I hope to have those files available for all who want to see them.While we were doing the video recording, it was clear that both HOSP Foster-parents are busily feeding. For some reason, we only managed to see the female leaving the nestbox carrying the tiny fecal sacs...??? Anyone know at what point TRES young stop producing fecal sacs and begin to 'foul' their nest...?? Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario, N. shore of western Lake Erie

[Evelyn Cooper]

Here's an update from Bruce on the fledging of the Tree Sparrows and their foster House Sparrow parents. This is an amazing story!

Good Morning all.....

Today was fledging day...!! I did not actually observe the TRES babies leaving the box, but have been able to watch Mama HOSP feeding them as the babies wait patiently from their perches in the shrubbery around the yard.

The babies fly back and forth, following Mrs Hosp begging for food. She is dutifully providing small insects for her foster kids. She brings the food to the babies as they sit and wait to be fed.

In one instance, I noted that one of the babies seemed to refuse when offered what appeared to be a tiny grasshopper. The female HOSP made several attempts to entice the TRES baby with the treat, ...to no avail. She flew off to offer it to the other chick.

A few minutes later, as she flew in with another tidbit, the TRES baby did respond, flapping wings, and wide-open mouth. I have not seen any "Catch-food-on-the-fly" lessons yet. Somehow, I believe that will be unlikely to happen.

I was only able to spot two of the fledglings. After an hour, or so, of watching and noticing that Mrs HOSP no longer entered the box, I opened the nestbox and peeked in. I discovered that the nest was infested with tiny ants.

I also found two of the TRES babies, dead in the nest. It appears as tho they were almost ready to fledge, but for some reason didn't make it...??? I'm guessing that they had been dead for only a short time, perhaps a day...??

I'll keep watching thru the day and relay info to those who are still interested.

I do have videos and a couple of still photos of the recent activities. I've gotta' get the video tape processed and placed on a DVD that I can get into my computer. Then I'll be able to distribute them to interested parties.

Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario, N shore of western Lake Erie

[Evelyn Cooper]

An update from Bruce this morning. I will send a link to any pictures I receive. What a story!

Evelyn

Sunday morning, N. Shore, W. Lake Erie, 62 degrees

Watching one of the TRES fledglings, perched in a cedar tree waiting to be fed. Wing-flapping, begging, at ANY passing birds.

I've seen two of the new babies flying about the yard but no definitive evidence of them feeding-on-the-fly.

I maintain a repeating sparrow trap in the yard and have two new tenants this morning. Both female HOSP. I've seen one of the TRES babies at the trap. (Do I have it's foster-mother..??)

Like Bob W., until that Friday, two weeks ago, I hadn't seen HOSP around for six- eight weeks. Thought perhaps I'd trapped out the local HOSP population. With the exception of this TRES incident, now the two this morning...?? I'm still not being bothered at boxes in my yard and on my trail...?? Where'd they go...??

I have a couple of still photos of the female HOSP feeding a TRES fledgling. When I took the pix, I had my camera 'Zoomed-in' to the maximum. But the image of the two birds is still very small, but discernible.

Since we are not on the BB listsite, I can sent one along, at your request. Perhaps you can zoom in even further using 'Photo shop, etc.....?? I'm going to try that myself.
The videos that I have will not be processed until mid-week, at best.

Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario, South of Detroit. (Only place in Canada where one must travel to the North, to enter the USA...!!!)

[Evelyn Cooper]

This in from Bruce this morning, July 28th:

Good Morning Evelyn...

The two HOSP in my trap appear to be immatures and they're still there. The foster mother is still around feeding the baby TRES. The babies are flying around, quite swallow-like, but are still focused on the female HOSP for their meal ticket.

Have you ever followed TRES fledglings...?? I have done so only casually and cannot say that I've ever noticed them being fed/begging while they're perched in trees or shrubs..?

The TRES fledglings that I've (barely) noticed over the years always seemed to be actively flying around with their parents and siblings, presumably being fed, or feeding, on the wing....??

Bruce Macd, SW Ontario