House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
The House sparrow is an endearing, friendly little garden bird whose almost consistent year-round presence is always welcome. However, despite its notoriety as being one of the most sociable and gregarious birds in existence, it’s an understatement to say the sparrow has had a very tough time throughout history.
Purging, culling and murdering are three of the most commonly used words associated with the House sparrow. And it doesn’t stop there. From culture to culture, the sparrow has been relegated to lechery, over-promiscuity and commonality; even the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph (G37), which uses the sparrow as a determinative ideogram, means “badness”, small and narrow. And our own literary geniuses, Shakespeare and Chaucer, had a bone to pick with House sparrows, calling them lecherous creatures.
Despite all ancient, and relatively recent, attempts to remove the House sparrow, it’s clearly a stubborn little bird, as in 2016 it was voted the most commonly observed garden bird in the UK, according to the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. This is at the tail-end of years of decline, which, from the peak of the 1970s, saw the population of Passer domesticus reduce by up to 71%.
Hopefully, times have changed.
General characteristics
You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t recognise the House sparrow. My earliest memory of the House sparrow is from Beatrix Potter’s first short story about Peter Rabbit: “his sobs were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement;” the scene in which Mr McGregor chased Peter about the garden.
Brown, of muted colour, and incredibly humble, House sparrows have managed to colonise the vast majority of the world. They are, without doubt, fantastic opportunists, and the fact that they eat almost anything gives them a great advantage when feeding in the garden (or elsewhere!): seeds, suet, peanuts and, of course, scraps, are some of the birds’ favourite fayre. In fact, according to a BTO Birdwatch Handbook, around 838 different types of food were found in the stomachs of House sparrows from research conducted in the 1940s.
For those few who wouldn’t be able to recognise a Sparrow, watch out for a bird with a chestnut brown back, white underparts and a grey crown. They have a tendency to congregate, hence the use of Sparrow colony nesting boxes, so look for them in groups in your garden.
The voice isn’t particularly distinct, with a continuous, relatively incessant collection of cheeps and chirps.
Can you spot the sparrow hieroglyph?
Breeding
It’s no lie that House sparrows are probably the most promiscuous garden birds in the UK. They live in colonies in cracks and crevices, although colony boxes can be used; and generally their nests are an untidy affair, sometimes made with a structure of rubbish such as paper, straw and string. Breeding typically begins in May, starting with the first of three clutches, each of which consists of between 3 – 5 eggs. The incubation period lasts between 11 – 14 days, after which the birds will enter their 11 – 16 day fledgling period.
Status
Despite the recent return of sightings in gardens across the UK, House sparrows are still classified as being in decline. According to RSPB research, between 1977 and 2008 House sparrows declined by as much as 71%. While this is true for England, areas such as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have, in fact, experienced noticeable increases of Passer domesticus.
What caused the decline?
- Less availability of favoured food, either for adults, chicks or both
- Greater levels of pollution
- Loss of suitable nesting sites
- The spread of disease
- Increased levels of predation, especially by Sparrowhawks
- Electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones
- Introduction of unleaded petrol, which produces toxic compounds such as methyl nitrate
Relations with humans
The sparrow has not had an easy time. A close cousin of the House sparrow, the Eurasian tree sparrow, was subject to elimination during the “Four Pests” campaign in Communist China, starting in 1958: the other three pests included flies, mosquitoes and rats. In a strangely ironic twist, Chairman Mao once called for the sparrow to be the Chinese National Bird because of its fortitude against entrapment: the fact that the bird would rather starve to death than be held captive was considered as great symbolic importance. Furthermore, its simple plumage denoted humility, which has traditionally been seen as a virtue throughout Chinese history. Despite this, it was eventually decided that sparrows should go because they ate too much grain.
Back to our own House sparrows (Passer domesticus), you may or may not have heard of “Sparrow Pie”, known famously for its apparent aphrodisiac properties. Well, it was a common dish back in the day, enjoyed by many. Thankfully, it is not so common anymore.
Also featured in folklore, it used to be told that should a House sparrow enter one’s house, there would most certainly be an impending death. The only solution was to kill the bird to prevent the death. In a more macabre version of this tale, if a person were to catch the bird in their house and do nothing, they would surely die.
10 interesting House sparrow facts
- House sparrows have been associated with humans as far back as 10,000 years.
- House sparrows have been kept as pets throughout history, despite their lack of colourful plumage or attractive songs
- Early 20th century saw the formation of Sparrow Clubs responsible for the culling of many millions of birds and eggs, in an attempt to control numbers of the perceived pest
- Domino Day (2005) saw a Sparrow sneak into the Frisian Expo Centre in Leeuwarden during preparations for Domino Day, and knock over more than 32,000 dominoes. This specific sparrow became known as the domino sparrow (dominomus)
- The House sparrow is frequently used to represent the vulgar, lewd and uncouth
- There’s a hymn about the House sparrow “His eye is on the Sparrow”.
- The actual cause of decline is still a mystery
- The House sparrow used to be Britain’s most common bird between 1994 and 2000
- House sparrows aggressively defend their nest holes
- The oldest wild House sparrow lived for nearly two decades
I am an amateurs bird counter for the BTO. Because I am a Garden Bird Counter; there are people who count their garden birds every week of the year for the BTO garden bird survey. The very first bird count that I did was of house sparrows. This was a three year long survey, was done in Scotland and garden bird counters were invited to join this survey.
I counted the sparrows in a part of my village. The gardens that had the biggest number of sparrows were the ones that were weedy and untidy.
Thank you for this article, I enjoyed it.
Thank you for the very interesting information about the house sparrow. I do think loss of suitable habitat is a main reason for the drop in numbers. I like them because they are such cheeky, bold little birds and their loud chirping is a very cheerful sound which can’t be ignored!
House sparrows are the birds who inspired me to start bird feeding. I feel bad that they have such a bad reputation… granted, in the past year since I started to feed birds, therr were a few times where I had to open the door to break up a bird fight but no were never any birds who got injured and I noticed that when I put out more food, the aggression dwindled. For the most part though, the other birds
(3 chickadees, a cardinal couple, blue jay couple, some juncos , a nut hatch, and others ) are totally fine when eating with the sparrows. In fact chickadee scared off the sparrows ftom the feeder recently by scaring them off.
We live in the isle of of man and our back garden is full of house sparrows the noise is deafening ! ( but if they weren’t their we would miss the noise if nothing else) , only once they disappeared because sparrow hawks snatched a couple , but they soon returned .
I’m not really a twitcher but I do love to see all the birds which visit our garden on a very regular basis. Every day we have gold finches, chaffinch green finch, great tit, coal tit, blue tit ,a pair of blackbirds, robins and of course many sparrows . I was even lucky enough to have a wryneck in the garden last year and managed some photos before it moved on. It visited the garden for 3 or 4 days on the run as we had a lot of ants in our lawn and around the patio area and I understand from our local Rspb representative that ants are their favourite food.
On my windswept farm at over 1000 feet above sea level I had no sparrows in the garden until one day a house sparrow came and checked the place out especially the feeders. A few days later 20 sparrows arrived together and now 10 years later we have a stable population of around 100 living in a thick hawthorn garden hedge and almost all of 41 nest boxes! It would be so easy to repair their urban decline with just a compulsory nest box or two included in planning of new builds in and around towns and the public would respond with bird feeders I’m sure.
Two days ago my garden was full of sparrows and starlings but they seem to have disappeared. Can anyone tell me why?
Hi Annie,
Yes, at this time of year it can certainly feel as though all the birds have deserted the garden. There’s a very simple explanation for this behaviour: moulting, which is the process of shedding and growing new feathers. This can take a large toll on a bird’s resources, as the energy required to grow new feathers is quite considerable. During this time, birds can be incredibly vulnerable to predators, and therefore have a tendency to hide away for a while. Don’t worry, though, they’ll be back once the moulting season is over; expect to see them return at the beginning of autumn when berries begin to grow in the wild.
Hope this helps,
GardenBird
I have been tending a baby sparrow that my cat brought into the house 2weeks ago , he is doing well and his tail feathers have grown and he has started to fly around the shed when I have let him out of the cage, when shall I release him , and should I release him in another place other than my garden. I don’t know if sparrows remember their offspring , any advice is greatly appreciated x
Good morning,
Thank you for your comment.
Now the fledgling is able to fly, we would recommend letting the bird go so it can re-integrate with its natural life.
We would also suggest releasing the fledgling in the same place as it will be familiar with the area and hopefully the other Sparrows will still be nearby.
I hope this helps.
Kind regards,
GardenBird
Do sparrows have young this time of year,I can hear them chirping by my back door??
i have this sparrow that sits on my shoulder when i walk around the yard now he or she comes to my kitcken window and pecks at itand waits 4 me at the side door in moring and afthernoon feeds off my hand is this common
House sparrows are the birds who inspired me to start bird feeding. I feel bad that they have such a bad reputation… granted, in the past year since I started to feed birds, therr were a few times where I had to open the door to break up a bird fight but no were never any birds who got injured and I noticed that when I put out more food, the aggression dwindled. For the most part though, the other birds
(3 chickadees, a cardinal couple, blue jay couple, some juncos , a nut hatch, and others ) are totally fine when eating with the sparrows. In fact chickadee scared off the sparrows ftom the feeder recently by scaring them off.
A pair have recently adopted a box near my back door but not started building yet. But she was frightened off this afternoon, he is still around but no sign of her, will she return, been gone nearly three hours now
I had a flock of house sparrows feeding since February this year. They have done a great job of raising multiple fledgelings, at times it seemed there were 20+ sparrows tucked up in our shrubs. their numbers have decreased slightly in the past two weeks which I understand is normal, a group of approximately 10 have stuck around. Sadly today whilst I was gardening a sparrow hawk swooped in out of no were and grabbed one of them. she chased it through my huge laurel bush before fleeing with the little bird in its claws. is there anything I could do to prevent this from happening again. I feel responsible for there safety, they wouldn’t have been around had I not been feeding them. the feeders are relatively close to trees and shrubs, some are sheltered and others aren’t. any ideas will be much appreciated.
I seen the comment about sparrows and starlings moulting, and this cheered me up as I thought they had all deserted the garden. Good to know they will all be back even though they get us up in the small hours of the morning
Hi, I’ve been feeding House Sparrows in my back yard for the last three years, gradually their numbers have increased from the initial two to the thirteen I counted last week.
What I’d really love to know is, are these birds all the same or are different groups attending throughout the day? Be great if someone more bird savvy could inform me what’s going on. Thanks, James.
My neighbour wants to pull out an adjoining hedge (it is hers) how ever it is a roosting spot for a dozen sparrows, can I do anything to stop this act of vandalism and wanton destruction of the sparrows habitat ?
I have bird box which house sparrows are using . they are in and out every few minutes what is the reason for this as they are not taking anything thing in so the nest is built. any ideas why
We have a camera in a nest box. A pair of sparrows built a nest in it, laid eggs, which hatched. After a three days the nest box was found to be empty. No sign of the three chicks at all either in or under box. The parent sparrows were still around and went into the box. Did they kill their chicks??
We have a lone sparrow in our garden that perches on our gutter and squawks the whole day long……! It’s been doing this constantly for three weeks ……we are used to having lots of different birds in our garden and feel this behaviour is quite unusual……..it sounds like an alarm sound but there are no obvious threats and none of the many other birds in our garden are reacting in this way ……does anyone have any ideas please ….thanks .Alison
Hi Alison, I was about to write the exact message! It has been on the gutter for 2 weeks squawking all day long. Would love to know why. Thanks Siân.
Hi I have had sparrows nesting in my garage eves since March. They have had three broods of chicks. One of the last fledgling sparrows, with only a little down left and who flies about confidently, continuously comes back to the garage and tweets not stop for hours on end. Which is driving me around the bend. Not even the hen comes back now. When will he fly the next?
Hi, We have a sparrow that fell through our loft it was so small that it couldn’t fly. We called a lady that rescues birds because it wasn’t eating very well, and she gave us some advise. we managed to get it to eat and placed it in a cage until it was eating properly and able to get around. We then let it out to fly around the lounge he couldn’t fly very well. So after speaking to the rescue centre we left it a couple more weeks then when he was strong enough we let him go. Two hours later he came back and flew down onto our shoulder. We let him/her out every morning but he fly’s back during the day and at night when its getting dark, he fly’s back into the lounge and sleeps. There are a family of sparrows next door in a bush that he goes to and even brings back a couple of them, but will not go off with them. Yet he was very distant the whole time when he was a fledgling. He has lost his tail feathers at the moment, although they are growing back. We have also put a nesting box outside hoping that he will use it. This is our third sparrow all the others left without any problems. He/She is not a problem but we would like it to find a mate. Can you advise. Many thanks.
that amazing andrea, i had a similar experience when i was 11, my sparrow used to land on my shoulder, hand and head. you become their parent and they have no fear of us. i have posted my own comment below. thanks . steve
I think the biggest reason for there decline is kindly put (modern farming practice ) spraying the fields ,ploughing the fields in late summer instead of spring which takes away there winter food gleaning for left over crops,
I expect my remarks were to controversial to be excepted ,insects are the plankton of the land the bottom of the food chain that’s the main reason all the birds are declining.
sparrows are my favourite small bird, and i am very happy to have them in my garden, when i was 11 i reared a baby sparrow which had fallen from the space under the roof where they nested. when able to fly i released him but he came back twice . on the third attempt off he went and i didnt see him again although months later an adult sparrow landed on the fence when i was there and seemed tame and i often wondered if it was my sparrow.