So I will leave with pictures of the doves. They're pretty, but they're annoying. They really want to nest under the slide toppers. We really don't want them to do that.
That's it! That's all I've got to report.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Evil House Sparrows
After reading Judy's comment yesterday about house sparrows being an invasive species, I was curious about how they got here. Like the importation of kudzu, people did it on purpose, starting in the 1850s. The first group that was imported died without breeding. It could have been stopped then, but noooooooo, they imported more of them. They're vicious birds. They'll kill other birds if they're in a nest that the sparrow wants. They also breed earlier in the season, so they occupy the good spots. By 1883, people began to realize that the house sparrow was a bad thing, and there were calls to eliminate them. Good luck with that. There are now approximately 150 million of them in the 48 states. There is a good article HERE with a lot of information on them. Apparently starlings were also imported from the old country with similar results.
So I will leave with pictures of the doves. They're pretty, but they're annoying. They really want to nest under the slide toppers. We really don't want them to do that.
That's it! That's all I've got to report.
So I will leave with pictures of the doves. They're pretty, but they're annoying. They really want to nest under the slide toppers. We really don't want them to do that.
That's it! That's all I've got to report.
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I didn't know that about house sparrows and starlings. Thanks for teaching me something new today!
ReplyDeleteI knew that sparrows and starling were brought into the US from the UK but its interesting to read your perception of them. Until your post I had'nt realised just how aggressive there are. I checked out articles to see if the same is true of our native UK species and it is. Generally Sparrows here tend to be regarded with affection and viewed as an integral part of urban wildlife. So much so that as recent bird surveys have shown a decline in their numbers much has been done to encourage their regeneration. I agree about the doves, and they seem to make the most noise in the early morning.
ReplyDeleteThe nuisance bird where I live is the pigeon. I'm so glad my pigeon-feeding neighbor moved. And my dog ate two of them.
ReplyDeleteLearned all about the nuisance that starlings are one time when I was visiting the in-laws. Just sitting in the house minding my own business and then I heard a loud bang. My father-in-law went outside and shot one. They live on a farm in the middle of a nowhere, but it was little unexpected for this city boy.
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