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House Sparrow control; web site update



On Fri, 16 Mar 2001 MikeDunn@aol.com wrote:
> 
> The issue I am having is that I work with schools to enhance wildlife 
> habitat. We regularly give schools bluebird houses. At some sites, sparrows 
> quickly move in. We recommend placing the houses away from school buildings 
> to minimize sparrow infestation. At schools where we think it will be a 
> no-win situation, we no longer give them bird houses. 
> I am looking for "official" language that I can use to help explain to 
> average folks like teachers, students, parents, etc, many of whom feel a bird 
> is, indeed, a bird and certainly would not understand destroying nests of 
> sparrows.
> We try to explain the issues, but it might help to have a strong biological 
> argument sanctioned by a natural resource agency.

I think I have what Mike is looking for... I'm not sure if they qualify 
as a "natural resource agency", but the North American Bluebird Society 
formally states that "it is the responsibility of every nest box trail 
operator to ensure that no House Sparrows fledge from their boxes. It is  
better to have no nest box than to have one which fledges sparrows." This 
from their "House Sparrow Fact Sheet" at 
http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/sparrow.htm

Some similar sentiments from the Schoharie County (NY) Bluebird Society 
are at http://www.cobleskill.edu/scbs/compet.htm#HSP

And for a graphic depiction of why they're bad, see 
http://community-2.webtv.net/hubertrap/HOUSESPARROWCONTROL/

Meanwhile, some folks have come up with an innovative method of repelling 
House Sparrows that folks with nest boxes might want to try, using 
monofilament fishing line. See 
http://www.crosswinds.net/~barryw/bluebird/deterhosp.htm or
http://www.concentric.net/~Frnavrat/deterhs/monobrdhse.htm for details.

Back here in the computer room, I still haven't been out birding yet 
during Duke's spring break... I haven't just been entering data or 
filling out grant applications, thought both of those have happened too. 
But probably my biggest time sink has been upgrading my web page. Of 
primary interest to folks here will be the bird photos page, which until 
now had only a shot of the Olsens' male Scissor-tail attacking a Great 
Egret. Now, however, there are many other photos accessible from that 
page, including my best shots (still much worse than some others already 
advertised here) of the Green-breasted Mango and Ross' Geese from NC 
earlier this year. The other NC photos include a Cape May Warbler from 
the 1999 fall NAMC, and a South Polar Skua seen from a FONT trip on the 
"Country Girl" the preceding summer. The rest are out-of-state photos, 
either of rarities, or just ones that I particularly like. And many more 
are still being processed, but Photoshop 5.5 is acting unruly, so it may 
be a few days before those become publicly available...

For people with interests beyond birds, I've also greatly expanded my 
collection of herp photos, and added a page of "other photos" for the 
pictures that weren't either birds, odonates, or herps, including lots of 
leps and caterpillars (one still unidentified), various spiders and 
beetles and bugs and other critters, and a few plants.

Good birding, (I'll do some myself tomorrow, I promise!)

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/