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What's wrong with those birds? Legit question. I"m a new homeowner and I fill my birdfeeder regularly and always see these. I also see doves, and a couple of black birds that have a bright orange patch on each "shoulder".
I love to see all the birds coming around for food. But if I shouldn't be attracting those common birds I'd like to know, thanks!!
Those are house sparrows. They were introduced to New York City's central park by a homesick Englishman in 1851. I wouldn't worry about it if they are eating out of your birdfeeder because it's literally a drop in the ocean, but they are highly invasive and put a lot of competitive pressure on native cavity nesting birds like purple martins, tree swallows and bluebirds.
If you are trying to set up a martin colony or encourage bluebirds to nest, then you will probably have to do some things that are mean european house sparrows.
Yep, as others have said, tree swallows. I had 7 pair of them nesting in my back yard this summer and also 12 pair of purple martins. The tree swallows are mosquito eating machines and are by far my favorite bird to watch. At first, I had to eliminate a few house sparrows but as the purple martins and tree swallows got established, they do a great job of keeping the house sparrows away.
Those are House Sparrows (female on left). They are non-native birds that were introduced in the U.S. in the mid-1800's. They did remarkably well propagating their numbers in this country. They are very aggressive and will kill young native birds like bluebirds, TS, etc. if they want to take over a nest site (by pecking them to death and pecking the eggs as well). That's basically why they have a bad rep among people with nest boxes trying to provide nesting places for native birds.
Interesting. We've had a handful of those house sparrows hanging around in our crape myrtles and eating seed from our feeder.
Right now, I have 5 baby bluebirds in a birdhouse I built. The parents stand watch on the nearby fence all day and swoop at any bird that comes near. We just put a bird bath near the birdhouse to make sure they're getting water with the 90+ degree temperatures. The parents don't seem to mind my German Shepherd. They probably realize he's slow and keeps the other predators away.
You can kind of see in the first picture that there is a lot of blue on the bird. I don't think it is a sparrow. We always have a lot of these guys around our feeder.
***Random picture off the internet***
That is a house finch. They are common in Palm Springs, CA and also in Michigan, and probably numerous other places. Very chirpy things.
Interesting. We've had a handful of those house sparrows hanging around in our crape myrtles and eating seed from our feeder.
Right now, I have 5 baby bluebirds in a birdhouse I built. The parents stand watch on the nearby fence all day and swoop at any bird that comes near. We just put a bird bath near the birdhouse to make sure they're getting water with the 90+ degree temperatures. The parents don't seem to mind my German Shepherd. They probably realize he's slow and keeps the other predators away.
Good job!! It won't be long before those youngsters take off on their first flight from the nest. One thing we do when we place our nest boxes is to position them facing a tree, ideally not too far away, so the young birds can land there easily on their first flight from the nest. If that's not possible, you might want to just be on the lookout for any baby bird that might land on the ground and stay there. If that's the case, I would pick it up and just place it on the limb of any nearby tree. They will be safer from predators there, and their parents will still hear them and feed them until they are strong enough to take off on their own. Thanks for the photos.
So, I opened up the bird house yesterday evening and the nest was indeed made up of a lot of their feathers which I thought was interesting. I'll get it cleaned out and ready for next Spring. We do plan on putting in a bird bath near the house. We also planted a few trees near by so hopefully they will continue to grow.
So many times when I would hear the babies chirping away, I wanted to open the house and look at them but I didn't want to disturb them. Hopefully next year I'll be able to take a peak.
So, I opened up the bird house yesterday evening and the nest was indeed made up of a lot of their feathers which I thought was interesting. I'll get it cleaned out and ready for next Spring. We do plan on putting in a bird bath near the house. We also planted a few trees near by so hopefully they will continue to grow.
So many times when I would hear the babies chirping away, I wanted to open the house and look at them but I didn't want to disturb them. Hopefully next year I'll be able to take a peak.
Start looking in April or when you see them flying around. We check out the nest boxes once a week when we first see them coming around. When we start monitoring, we see the progression of the nest being built right from the beginning when they first place dried grass on the bottom of the nest box. After the nest is built, we see the eggs in there. After that she (the momma) starts sitting on the eggs and once in awhile flies out to feed herself. When she's away is the perfect time to look inside. If you take photos, you could start a thread showing the nesting process up to when they fledge the nest.
We have about 10 birdhouses on our property and enjoy the birds that nest (blue birds, swallows, chickadees, finches.) We clean them out in the fall, although sometimes the chickadees will live in them for the winter.
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.. they are roaches with feathers .
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