One reason I like my job in a shelter is that it gives me plenty of opportunities to get outdoors. There were many aspects of private practice that I enjoyed, but getting outdoors was definitely not one of them! There have been some beautiful spring and fall days when I would have considered seeing clients outside, but before COVID that would have been unprofessional! But I digress. My point was that even though my current office isn’t far from my house, we do have some wildlife there that we don’t have around the house. One of those species is the house sparrow.

House sparrows are kind of an unusual songbird because they almost alway live around people. They much prefer to nest and feed in areas where people live (remember, wildlife can be found anywhere if you look). Given the choice, they will choose a niche in a wall, the inside of a shed, or a man made bird house over a natural nesting site. In fact, one of their favorite nesting spots is under the eaves of houses and outbuildings. For that reason, we don’t have them out here in the woods! My office isn’t exactly in the city, either, but we do have quite a few storage sheds, outbuildings, storage buildings, and of course the kennels that they can nest in, and there is plenty of food.

House sparrows are native to Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa, but their ability to thrive around human beings has helped them to spread throughout most of the world. In North America, they were introduced in New York City in 1851 and have since spread through the entire continent except for the extreme north. They are omnivores, which means that they will eat seed, suet, fruit, insects, and almost any scraps left by people. Out at our office they are regularly seen inside the dog kennel helping themselves to kibble right out of the dog’s bowls! And of course, any feed that gets spilled disappears within a few hours. They prefer to feed by hopping around on the ground and picking up food, which may be part of the reason that they do so well around people (we are basically slobs, leaving scraps wherever we go!).

House sparrows may be small, but they are tough and can be fairly aggressive towards other birds. They can be quite protective of their nests and nesting territories and have been known to drive off much larger birds. They are also known for taking over the nests and nesting boxes of other birds like martins and swallows. They tend to live in small to moderate sized flocks, and as long as nesting sites and food remain available, they don’t migrate. Our little group is always around no matter the time of the year, and even though we don’t purposefully feed them, they never lack for a meal. I’m sure that most of you have seen house sparrows in all sorts of places if you have been looking. There is a good sized flock of them living in a Walmart store near where I live. Where is the most interesting place you have encountered house sparrows?