House Sparrows

There are a few birds I haven't gotten around to documenting for no good reason, (doves, pigeons, etc.) and this is one: the common House Sparrow.

This is a female House Sparrow (on the left) and a female House Finch (on the right).  Both are about the same size and are dull brown, but the sparrow has a plain belly while the finch has streaks on hers.  They eat mostly the same seeds and will hang out together on the same feeder - obviously.  The finches also eat thistle seed and Nyjer where the sparrows won't.  (Side note: for an interesting (okay, borderline interesting) explanation of how thistle and Nyjer are different and how lowly niger oil seeds were transformed into Nyjer® birdseed to avoid unpleasant mispronunciation and confrontations at the birdseed store, click here.)

They're just loud, cute, ubiquitous little flying mice. Some people hate them for being an introduced species that displaces native birds and other prettier songbirds.  Everyone else doesn't notice they exist.  I fall somewhere in the middle.  I spend a fair amount of money feeding them, but I'd rather attract different birds.

Here are a few males.  They're much more distinctive than the females (and let's face it, like most birds, prettier) and easier to identify.  They'll perch on the fence or the old aluminum VHF aerial on my neighbor's roof.  My friend Tim expressed the concern that as fewer and fewer houses have those big antennas (so perfect for birds to perch on and just the right texture for beak-sharpening), sparrow beaks are going to grow out of control.

House Sparrows, August 5, 2010, taken with the Nikon and the big Sigma lens.