Save The House Sparrows (STHS)

[DuckRaiser]

Please help save battery hens; https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/newestpost/878380

 

[ChicknsRock]

Bird Lesson from Lydia (and yes I copied this from a website)

The House Sparrow

• Behavior
  
  House Sparrows are noisy sparrows that flutter down from eaves and fencerows to hop and peck at crumbs or birdseed. Look for them flying in and out of nest holes hidden behind shop signs or in traffic lights, or hanging around parking lots waiting for crumbs and picking insects off car grills.

• Habitat
  
  House Sparrows have lived around humans for centuries. Look for them on city streets, taking handouts in parks and zoos, or cheeping from a perch on your roof or trees in your yard. House Sparrows are absent from undisturbed forests and grasslands, but they’re common in countryside around farmsteads.
• Cool Facts (Must read!)
• The House Sparrow was introduced into Brooklyn, New York, in 1851. By 1900 it had spread to the Rocky Mountains. Two more introductions in the early 1870s, in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, aided the bird’s spread throughout the West. House Sparrows are now common across all of North America except Alaska and far northern Canada.
• The House Sparrow takes frequent dust baths. It throws soil and dust over its body feathers, just as if it were bathing with water. In doing so, a sparrow may make a small depression in the ground, and sometimes defends this spot against other sparrows.
• The House Sparrow prefers to nest in manmade structures such as eaves or walls of buildings, street lights, and nest boxes instead of in natural nest sites such as holes in trees.
• Due to its abundance, ease to raise and general lack of fear towards humans, the House Sparrow has proved to be an excellent model organism for many avian biological studies. To date, there have been almost 5,000 scientific papers published with the House Sparrow as the study species.
• House Sparrows aggressively defend their nest holes. A scientist in 1889 reported cases of House Sparrows attacking 70 different bird species. House Sparrows sometimes evict other birds from nest holes, including Eastern Bluebirds, Purple Martins, and Tree Swallows.
• House Sparrows in flocks have a pecking order much the way chickens in a farmyard do. You can begin to decipher the standings by paying attention to the black throats of the males. Males with larger patches of black tend to be older and dominant over males with less black. By wearing this information on their feathers, sparrows can avoid some fights and thereby save energy.
• House Sparrows have been seen stealing food from American Robins and piercing flowers to drain them of nectar.
• The oldest recorded House Sparrow was 15 years 9 months old.

 

[CHICKEN CRAZY1]

Cool! Stuff I didn't know!

 

[DuckRaiser]

Bird Lesson from Lydia (and yes I copied this from a website)

The House Sparrow

• Behavior
  
  House Sparrows are noisy sparrows that flutter down from eaves and fencerows to hop and peck at crumbs or birdseed. Look for them flying in and out of nest holes hidden behind shop signs or in traffic lights, or hanging around parking lots waiting for crumbs and picking insects off car grills.

• Habitat
  
  House Sparrows have lived around humans for centuries. Look for them on city streets, taking handouts in parks and zoos, or cheeping from a perch on your roof or trees in your yard. House Sparrows are absent from undisturbed forests and grasslands, but they’re common in countryside around farmsteads.
• Cool Facts (Must read!)
• The House Sparrow was introduced into Brooklyn, New York, in 1851. By 1900 it had spread to the Rocky Mountains. Two more introductions in the early 1870s, in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, aided the bird’s spread throughout the West. House Sparrows are now common across all of North America except Alaska and far northern Canada.
• The House Sparrow takes frequent dust baths. It throws soil and dust over its body feathers, just as if it were bathing with water. In doing so, a sparrow may make a small depression in the ground, and sometimes defends this spot against other sparrows.
• The House Sparrow prefers to nest in manmade structures such as eaves or walls of buildings, street lights, and nest boxes instead of in natural nest sites such as holes in trees.
• Due to its abundance, ease to raise and general lack of fear towards humans, the House Sparrow has proved to be an excellent model organism for many avian biological studies. To date, there have been almost 5,000 scientific papers published with the House Sparrow as the study species.
• House Sparrows aggressively defend their nest holes. A scientist in 1889 reported cases of House Sparrows attacking 70 different bird species. House Sparrows sometimes evict other birds from nest holes, including Eastern Bluebirds, Purple Martins, and Tree Swallows.
• House Sparrows in flocks have a pecking order much the way chickens in a farmyard do. You can begin to decipher the standings by paying attention to the black throats of the males. Males with larger patches of black tend to be older and dominant over males with less black. By wearing this information on their feathers, sparrows can avoid some fights and thereby save energy.
• House Sparrows have been seen stealing food from American Robins and piercing flowers to drain them of nectar.
• The oldest recorded House Sparrow was 15 years 9 months old.

Cool facts! I think house sparrows are wonderful creatures

 

[sourland]

My mother loved house sparrows. Being of European descent she could make a great 'sparrow pie'. I'll have to see if I can find that recipe.

 

[DuckRaiser]

My mother loved house sparrows.  Being of European descent she could make a great 'sparrow pie'.  I'll have to see if I can find that recipe. 

Sparrow as dessert???

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote: No, this is a meat pie, a main dish - something that is common in a lot of European cuisine, but which somehow didn't "cross the pond" into American food.

 

[sourland]

Sparrow as dessert???

Nope, main course baked in a flaky pie crust with potatoes, carrot, celery, onion and seasonings.

 

[DuckRaiser]

My mother loved house sparrows. Being of European descent she could make a great 'sparrow pie'. I'll have to see if I can find that recipe.

Stop talking about eating sparrows when we are trying to SAVE sparrows.

 

[DuckRaiser]

No, this is a meat pie, a main dish - something that is common in a lot of European cuisine, but which somehow didn't "cross the pond" into American food.

Stop this conversation, all chicknsrock wanted was a thread full of people who loved sparrows, she didn't want it invaded with people who didn't care for sparrows.