House Sparrows disappeared from my property about fifteen years ago, that’s a guess but they were here when I was contributing to the New Atlas of Australian Birds and I know they’ve been missing for a very long time.
1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 1600, focal length 560mm
Canon 5DSR, Canon 200-400 L IS USM EXT
House Sparrow numbers have been crashing around the world for about forty years. One article I found said that the world was losing fifty sparrows every hour. They’re an introduced species in many countries, including Australia, so their decline here isn’t overly concerning – except that we don’t know why. Even in the UK their decline has been so rapid that they are red listed as a species of high conservation concern.
House Sparrows were introduced to Australia during the mid 1800s by settlers desperately trying to recreate their homeland. Acclimatisation Societies introduced many species including rabbits, foxes, starlings, blackbirds, song thrushes, skylarks and noxious weeds: they wanted to hunt foxes and harvest blackberries while listening to familiar birdsong. If only we could wind the clock back.
House Sparrows are 15cm long and weigh 27g and they eat a wide range of foods and most of us have tossed crumbs to them when they join us at cafes.
Many factors have been suggested as a cause of their decline including pollution, cats, lack of nesting sites, changes agricultural practices, avian malaria and climate change. I’m wondering how widespread changes in their numbers are now, maybe they are still flourishing in some places.
Happy birding, stay safe, Kim
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