ENGLISH SPARROW

ENGLISH SPARROW. The English sparrow was introduced into the United States at Brooklyn, New York, in the years 1851 and 1852. The trees in parks were at that time infested with a canker-worm, which caused them great injury, and to rid the trees of these worms was the mission of the bird. (1) Reaction to the birds, however, suffered a reversal by 1873 when the American Institute of Farmers' Club decided that sparrows should be exterminated. (2)

Proponents of sparrows continued their efforts. In 1876 the loss of insect-eating songbirds was seen as removing one protection for fruit and shade trees. Based upon their success in the eastern part of the country, English sparrows were thought to be a remedy. Mr. D. Wagner proposed in April 1876 to purchase fifty of the birds to be shipped to Dubuque and then turned loose. The Dubuque Herald commented that the idea was a "commendable effort." (3)

The sparrows were actually ordered in 1878. The Dubuque Herald remarked that they "will be set free in the public parks and also be permitted the freedom of the city as soon as the increasingly warm weather warrants a sufficiency of spiders...Thanks to Bird Wagner, Druggist Ruete and others." (4) The sparrows were expected to arrive on March 6, 1878 and plans were immediately announced to set them free in WASHINGTON PARK on March 7th. (5)

Concern about the wintering of the sparrows in Dubuque led the city to have bird boxes constructed for the birds in October, 1878. (6) Theodore RUETE and H. H. Smyth agreed to feed the birds in Washington Park. (7)

By 1879 the appeal of sparrows in western states had waned. Western farmers found that sparrows had been an efficient deterrent to grasshoppers but had become a 'scourge' to crops. Laws were suggested to destroy them and prohibit their further introduction. An editorial in the Daily Herald in 1879 suggested that Iowa farmers had not had suffered such a situation. City residents found that sparrows fed upon garbage and attacked bugs and insects during the summer. Reports of sparrows being attracted to area gardens had not been heard and instead of being wild the birds had become domesticated and were 'as tame as pet fowls."

Sparrows became regarded as a pest. Some scientists considered them the number one enemy of bluebirds and purple martins. Unlike starlings, they are capable of entering the 1.5" round hole of a nestbox. English or House sparrows were observed threatening and attacking 70 species of birds that came into their nesting territory. One study showed they reduced reproductive output of a barn swallow colony in Maryland by 44.7% over a four year period. (Weisheit and Creighton, 1989). Sparrows were also accused of stealing nesting material and slowing down breeding. Some "bluebirders" referred to them as "rats with wings", that would attack and kill adult bluebirds or sometimes trapping and decapitating them in the nestbox and building their own nest on top of their victim's corpse. They were said to destroy the eggs and kill the young of other birds. At a minimum, they often harassed native birds (especially more timid species like chickadees) into abandoning nestboxes. (8)

Attempts to control house sparrows included trapping, poisoning, or shooting of adults; destruction of their nests and eggs; or less directly, blocking nest holes and scaring off sparrows with noise, glue, or porcupine wire. However attempts at the large-scale control of the house sparrow have failed. (9)

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Source:

1. "The English Sparrow," Online: http://www.birdnature.com/dec1897/sparrow.html

2. "The English Sparrow," Daily Herald, December 20, 1879, p. 4

3. "More Good Birds Wanted," Dubuque Herald, April 14, 1876, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18760414&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

4. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, March 5, 1878, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18780305&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

5. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, March 7, 1878, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18780307&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

6. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, November 7, 1878, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18781109&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

7. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, November 9, 1878, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18781109&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

8. "Managing House Sparrows," Online: http://www.sialis.org/hosp.htm

9. "House Sparrow," Wikipedia. Online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_sparrow