House Sparrows- possibly lower in numbers

[Meadow5]

I had house sparrows nesting in the eaves of my window for several years. They used to use my eaves for nesting in. There is usually a gang of sparrows tweeting in a neighbours tree everyday, sounded like lots of them are there. Now it only sounds like two are in the tree now at one time. Ive noticed the numbers have seemed to have gone down a bit, and they were eating from my feeders a lot, there would be like 8 of them around fighting over the feeders and thwy would go down quickly. Now in the past week ive only had one hanging around for a bit in the honeysuckle near the feeders (a younger looking one) Plus the feeders would go down pretty fast and theyve hardly been touched by the sparrows

A relative had put some cereal in the feeders and some of the birds ate a bit, but the sparrows didnt seem to like it. The other day i emptied out the feeders and filled them up with wild bird seed mix, a new brand in one, and the rest of the other brand in the other. Its hardly been touched

Does anyone know whats happening? I think its sad as there was like 8 hanging out together squabbling over the feeders. Will they come back or has something happened?

[billybirder]

I really don't know.. the opposite has happened to me recently. But a few years ago my neighbours took down a long hedge between our gardens and put a fence instead, and we had no more sparrows for years. Hopefully it's a local event like that, and they are still around somewhere. Certainly if you have lots of people feeding the birds around you they won't be so dependent on one feeder station.
Also have you been subject to sparrowhawk attacks? Might be worth re siting the feeders?

[Kayleigh]

They need somewhere to roost as well as food and water and places to nest maybe they will return in Spring.
I have a large Berberis in my garden where the Sparrows live all year.
I think they will find your food when the weather turns cold they didn't like the food that was on offer so found another food source maybe your neighbours are feeding them.
I have a bird table, feeders a pond and bird bath lots of shrubs for cover maybe you could plant more berry covered shrubs for them.

[parsleythelion]

squirrels may have forced them out.

[luckyoldme]

We don't have any natural nest sites, but I've noticed a bit of a resurgance in Sparrow numbers visting our garden this year. Last year they were very few and far between, but I've counted as many as thirty in my garden this year at any one time and twelve of them having a bird bath together which was very entertaining. Needless to say we've had Mr and Mrs Sparrowhawk have been paying us some visits also...

[Dogghound]

What is the timescale of this decline is it a case of a few birds have moved away during the last few weeks or has the entire colony collapsed and stopped breeding?

It is really difficult to answer this kind of question as the possibilities are quite varied. Without knowing an area or a population makes it difficult too. Birds move around for lots of reasons, there could be increased shelter, roosting habitat or food in another area causing them to leave. Have you checked the local area to see if there are any around?

We get about 4 pairs of house sparrows breeding within an area near my garden, so I regularly see them through the summer. During the autumn they move onto local farmland, they then move to a large area of blackthorn scrub about 600 metres away with the other sparrows in the area. However they loosely associate themselves with their former breeding site and often roost there especially as the winter progresses, until they remain there in late winter/spring. At least this is what I think occurs to my specific birds and could be what happens with yours.

Alternatively someone could have had the eaves of their house sealed up, causing half of the colony to move to another breeding site which subsequently results in the other half following them. Colonies can quickly collapse/move like this.

As a species they tend to be quite sedentary and don't move around quite as much as finches, buntings etc.

Sparrows are exceptionally deceiving birds, I undertake regular wintering bird counts on farmland and especially with tree sparrows you may see about 5-7 but there could be 30-40 birds deeper into the bush.

[RaptorMan101]

Hard to explain like others have said, maybe they have found either a better food source or the sparrowhawk has decimated the colony. I am not sure though as I have never seen your local surroundings etc.

I will be trying to encourage my local house sparrows to by putting up a sparrow terrace nest box under the eaves our house. And I have made sure it's facing away from sun, wind and rain direction. And sparrowhawk attacks are on a scale of 2-5 a week so fairly irregular. I feed them all year around and have anything from 1-100(usually approx 30) in my garden, but they have never nested in my garden (that I know of).

That's my rant over
Jim

[ChristineB]

I also seem to have plenty of house sparrows this winter. We have a privet hedge running the full length of one side of the garden and every morning first thing and last thing at night they are incredibly vocal! Very difficult to count as they seem to come out onto the lawn alongside dunnocks, chaffinches and even a redpoll or two and never seem to stay still for very long, but I would say there were at least a dozen.

[billybirder]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

.............

Sparrows are exceptionally deceiving birds, I undertake regular wintering bird counts on farmland and especially with tree sparrows you may see about 5-7 but there could be 30-40 birds deeper into the bush.

agree. There is Saltmarsh just behind our house and the shrubby areas in that usually have a few sparrows atop. ... but are positively wriggling with them within! Their noise is the giveaway!

[Tringa]

Some time things change without any obvious cause.

Three or four years ago we did not see many house sparrows, but a small group appeared about a couple of years and we have had about 8 or 10 regular visitors since then.

Last December the goldfinches arrived early with the bad weather and have never gone away. In earlier years they would arrive in January/February for about three weeks and then disappear.

We haven't heard a tawny owl for at least ten years whereas prior to that they could be heard every year in a nearby cemetery.

While these things have happened there does not seem to be much if any change in the surrounding area. Yes, the cold weather was a change last December but the goldfinches have always left in early spring. The garden and the local cemetery look pretty much the same.

Dave