# House sparrows disappearing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619 "2014-02-18T13:59:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/1 "2014-02-18T13:59:44Z")
I live in the south bay area of Los Angeles. As long as I have been alive the little sparrows were everywhere. You could not go outside without the chirping just being part of the background noise. ``` I have not seen a single one around here in over 2 months now?? Nothing on the internet I can find, I do see them still a little north and a little south but not in the numbers I used to see them. It would ne nice if they were gone but I still have to wonder why they are disappearing. I may have posted on this a couple of months ago. Any theories? I do know that in recent years the last of the open spaces have disappeared this may be all there is to it. We also had a west nile die off of crows in the area recently. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/2 "2014-02-18T15:34:10Z")
I’m always hearing about how bad the air pollution is in LA. Is it possible that it’s gotten too bad for sparrows to survive there? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/3 "2014-02-18T15:37:19Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’m always hearing about how bad the air pollution is in LA. Is it possible that it’s gotten too bad for sparrows to survive there? I live right near the coast and we have good air quality form the ocean breezes. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/4 "2014-02-18T16:06:08Z")
God, I fucking wish. Those little bastards take up residence on the west side of our house and won’t shut the fuck up at 6am. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/5 "2014-02-18T16:24:42Z")
Now that it’s been brought up, I can’t remember seeing one in a very long time. When I was a kid, they were everywhere, and built their nests in our carport. Most people consider them a nuisance, but still I wonder what happened to them. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/6 "2014-02-18T16:40:55Z")
I found [this](http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/species/scrub/rufous_crowned_sparrow.htm): > [@](#): > > CURRENT BREEDING DISTRIBUTION: > > The current breeding distribution largely matches the historical breeding distribution, with the following exceptions: > > Southern California populations of Rufous-crowned Sparrow are increasingly restricted due to urbanization and agricultural development in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and San Bernardino counties (Collins 1999). I’m no birder, I don’t know if a Rufous-crowned sparrow is the same as a house sparrow. Sounds right, though - rufous sounds like something that lives among roofs, which crown houses. Makes sense, right? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/7 "2014-02-18T16:45:13Z")
I live in San Francisco, and there are a ton of them on our street. That’s where I mostly notice them, walking to the train station. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/8 "2014-02-18T17:00:23Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > I’m no birder, I don’t know if a Rufous-crowned sparrow is the same as a house sparrow. [It is](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Sparrow) [not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous-crowned_Sparrow). Unlike virtually every other type of critter, birds actually have somewhat codified common names in English. A House Sparrow is a House Sparrow and is never some other sort of sparrow. And House Sparrows don’t typically hate on urbanization - cities and suburbs are where they thrive in NA ( where they are not native ). However pollution _could_ be a problem. They are undergoing steep declines in Britain and some other areas and I believe the reasons for the urban declines are still up in the air. I haven’t heard of or noticed any particular decline here in northern California, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some. But it could be something very local, even neighborhood-specific - some people trap them as pests and localized epidemic disease is also always possible. ETA: In fact I just realized there is one cheeping determinedly outside my window as I type this ;). ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/9 "2014-02-18T17:07:04Z")
[Good](http://www.abcbirds.org/conservationissues/threats/invasives/house_sparrow.html) [riddance](http://nestwatch.org/learn/nest-box-resource-center/managing-house-sparrows-and-european-starlings/) to [bad](http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Passer_domesticus.htm) [rubbish](http://invasivespeciescouncil.com/Profiles_Birds.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/10 "2014-02-18T18:31:55Z")
[Here a photo I snapped recently](http://i.imgur.com/07VqPQ3.jpg) of one of the little fuckers that nests under the A/C unit in my living room. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/11 "2014-02-18T18:48:59Z")
There are plenty of them near where I live, in Maryland. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/12 "2014-02-18T19:05:03Z")
The near-ubiquity of house sparrows leads people to think they’re like post-apocalyptic cockroaches: able to survive anything, anywhere. In reality, like all birds, they’re dependent on a couple of non-negotiable things: namely, food and nesting sites. If you like in a neighborhood where all the lawns are manicured and sprayed, they won’t find either the weed seeds or the insects they need to eat. And it’s also possible the built environment is constructed in such a way as to deprive them of nesting sites. Sparrows are cavity nesters, so they need, at worst, something cavity-like – a bit of drainpipe, an electrical weatherhead, a certain kind of dryer vent. If people don’t like sparrows much, they can easily remove or stop up anything that might offer itself as a nesting site. Another possible explanation, though it seems less likely to me, is avian pox, which I read recently has been heavily affecting house finches on the West Coast. House finches and house sparrows are often in close proximity, and possibly the disease can be spread from one to the other. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/13 "2014-02-18T19:08:33Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > [Good](http://www.abcbirds.org/conservationissues/threats/invasives/house_sparrow.html) [riddance](http://nestwatch.org/learn/nest-box-resource-center/managing-house-sparrows-and-european-starlings/) to [bad](http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Passer_domesticus.htm) [rubbish](http://invasivespeciescouncil.com/Profiles_Birds.aspx). Do you really think that the in the absence of house sparrows, the OP’s neighborhood is suddenly going to be recolonized by native birds? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/14 "2014-02-18T19:12:06Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > [Here a photo I snapped recently](http://i.imgur.com/07VqPQ3.jpg) of one of the little fuckers that nests under the A/C unit in my living room. I may not be the best cleaner on earth, but at least I’ve never had a bird nest in my living room. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/15 "2014-02-18T19:48:52Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I may not be the best cleaner on earth, but at least I’ve never had a bird nest in my living room. 😉 Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/16 "2014-02-18T20:22:34Z")
Worse yet, he’s evidently got trees! ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/17 "2014-02-18T20:30:14Z")
I’m expecting a pair to take up residence on my front porch in a month or two, you’re welcome to them. I can UPS or FEDEX them to you. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/18 "2014-02-18T21:17:54Z")
I am no big fan of the sparrows but it does concern me that a disease or something may be spreading in the area. Pigeons and crows seem to be doing ok, doves seem normal. Songbirds around here are usually just visitors in December and January. Blue jays and mocking birds I haven’t seen for quite a long time and they used to be regulars, haven’t seen a robin in several years. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/19 "2014-02-19T05:18:08Z")
I just love the little critters. They have been around forever where I live, and are not considered an invasive species here. [This](http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/cellphone-towers-posing-threat-to-survival-of-sparrows/article4531912.ece)and [this](http://www.academia.edu/1746940/MOEF_REPORT_ON_IMPACT_OF_CELL_PHONE_TOWERS_ON_WILDLIFE)seem to suggest that they are affected by radiation from cellphone towers, while [here](http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/cell-phone-radiation-may-be-harmful-but-not-lethal/article5113454.ece)is a contrary opinion. The science is not settled yet; I am sure urbanization and diminishing sources of food and shelter do contribute, too. Whatever ails them, I hope they bounce back. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619/20 "2014-02-19T05:26:37Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > I found [this](http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/species/scrub/rufous_crowned_sparrow.htm): > I’m no birder, I don’t know if a Rufous-crowned sparrow is the same as a house sparrow. Sounds right, though - rufous sounds like something that lives among roofs, which crown houses. Makes sense, right? No, “rufous” means red. It refers to the reddish-brown coloration of the feathers on top of the bird’s head. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-sparrows-disappearing/681619.md?page=2)