English sparrows and European starlings are invasive species that have outcompeted several native species liek bluebirds, hastening their eventual demise. If we really set our minds to it would it be possible to get rid of all the English sparrowsand European starlings in the US?
All we need to do is invent a flying cat.
Sure we can. The question is how much collateral damage are you willing to accept? And how much money are you willing to spend on this project?
As a practical matter, our society isn’t willing to spend the amount of money it would take to do the job even with massive collateral damage. Spending 20x that to avoid killing off lots of other species is really out of reach.
So the practical answer is no.
We have something along those lines, in the form of a Sharp-shinned hawk, which loves to snack on starlings and similar. As is common with predator species, there aren’t nearly enough to make a serious dent in the prey species (indeed, terrestrial cats haven’t seriously threatened to eliminate terrestrial prey, e.g. mice).
If it were discovered that you could catch a wicked buzz by eating them, they’d be hunted into extinction by the end of the year.
My cat trained with a springy wire toy as a youngster, so he’s a great leaper. He’s doing his bit against the sparrows. He’s no match for the sheer numbers of sparrow breeding, though. The sparrows are also raided here by owls, kestrels, and the occasional red tailed hawk. The sparrows nest more than once a year, and the supply of new sparrows stays well ahead of the predators’ work.
Interestingly, even the European starlings raid the sparrows’ nests, eating the eggs and young.
So, no, we’ll never be rid of these invasive birds.
Generally, predators which wipe out their prey species don’t advance to the next round in Darwin’s game show.
Or just spread the rumor that they can make elderly Chinese gentlemen randy.
You just need a better throwing arm.
That was so wrong.
Unlikely we’ll get rid of all them but you can eliminate them from your property and give the native species a refuge. Eliminate doesn’t mean catch and release; they will come back … sounds harsh, but they are the rats of the bird world, taking up all the available nesting spaces the native species want to use.
Put up bird houses but don’t allow sparrows to use them. Bluebird houses are inexpensive and very low maintenance. Purple Martin houses can be somewhat expensive and do require some care, an interesting and worthwhile spring time hobby … but don’t put them up if you aren’t willing to eliminate the sparrows that will try to take over; that makes the problem worse instead of better.
House sparrows and European starlings, the subjects of the OP, along with rock pigeons, are not.
As per wiki, pidgeons and sparrows are not federally protected.
(And I don’t see why they would, I live in inner city Philadelphia and these swarm by the millions)
Mao Zedong tried to get rid of sparrows in China. They succeeded enough that the insects the sparrows used to eat got out of control, which contributed to a famine.
Starlings are also insectivores, so you might run into similar problems there.
It’s easier said than done. I chased sparrows out of a martin house for some years, but the martins never came by to check it out. It turned out I wasn’t close enough to a body of water to get martins.
I have three bluebird houses, all full of sparrows. I put up a wren house, with an entrance too small for sparrows. An ambitious downy woodpecker widened the hole so he could move in, but the sparrows ran him off.
If you build it, they will come. Then the sparrows will kill them in their nests.:smack:
Starlings are like that, too – they steal nests made and currently inhabited by woodpeckers and even owls.
Cowbirds should be at the top of the list for elimination. They don’t steal other birds’ nests, they merely lay their eggs in other birds nests. The baby cowbirds, being bigger than the other baby birds, kick them out, and the stupid mother bird dutifully feeds the imposter. As a general rule, birds are quite smart, but this is a definite instance of being bird-brained.
Yes, Purple Martins are a special case and require some research and knowledge … and sometimes some patience.
If you eliminate the sparrows (as often as necessary), you will eventually get bluebirds.
The key word is eliminate. They truly are the rats of the bird world and they don’t belong here. They have done and are still doing great damage to the native species.
Good find, thanks. I wasn’t sure if those common varieties fell among the species that are on the protected list, under some more formal name.
As I understand it, they’re specifically excluded from the list because they are introduced and invasive (displacing native species).