House Sparrow

While yesterday's Mourning Dove are rare beneficiaries of the bird food I've left out for the Dark-eyed Juncos, much more frequent beneficiaries are the House Sparrows.

As one of the most successful invasive bird species in North America (the European Starling is the other one), House Sparrows are less popular with birders, naturalists, and ecologists than almost any bird we see. This actually extends to the law; while harming most birds is illegal (with some regulated exceptions for game birds), these guys aren't protected by federal law. (Local animal cruelty laws could still apply though.)

These guys are Old World sparrows, and are thus not particularly closely related to virtually all the other sparrows you see; almost all the other sparrows you see are New World sparrows. (New World sparrows are actually more closely related to Old World Buntings than Old World Sparrows. Such is the confusing world of taxonomy.)

March 2021 at Finderne


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