Provide seed all year round in your garden
House sparrows will always be appreciative of any seed you provide and will return to a site that they know to be plentiful. Sunflower hearts are a particular favourite and they always welcome fat balls. These are available from pet shops or garden centres. By providing seed all year round you are making sure house sparrows have enough food to survive the winter and continue breeding.
Provide mealworms in the summer
My research findings indicated that a lack of insect food during the summer is preventing many chicks from successfully fledging the nest. Therefore by providing mealworms to the adult birds during the summer months they can successfully feed their young a high protein diet. House sparrows are granivorous (only eat seeds and grass) all year round apart from when the chicks are in the nest and in need of better nutrition. Dried mealworms are available for the more squeamish of you and offer an excellent alternative to fresh.
Put a nestbox on your house
Modern housing often prevents nesting opportunities for house sparrows and other species. Erecting a nestbox will provide a much needed home for your local sparrows. House sparrows will begin prospecting for nest sites as early as January in preparation for nesting in April through to August so aim to have your box sited as soon as summer ends in preparation for the next year’s brood.
The nestboxes for my research were provided by CJ Wildbird Foods but they are also readily available from your local garden centre. Why not try building your own? But don’t forget that you need a 32mm sized entrance hole to accommodate house sparrows. Avoid south facing walls and put the nestboxes as high as you can under the eaves of your home.
Plant native species in your garden
Diversify the structure of informal and formal shrub stands to create foraging and shelter opportunities. Plant native species in your garden and allow areas of your lawn to grow long which will encourage more insects and will provide meals for house sparrows and other garden birds.
House sparrows need hedges to roost and socialise in and species such as hawthorn and privet are particularly welcomed. Climbers such as ivy and honeysuckle provide excellent cover and nesting opportunities for urban house sparrows.
Provide bird baths all year round in your garden
Water is necessary for drinks and bathing. Providing a bird bath fulfils both requirements and will be used by all garden birds. Ensure that the water levels are maintained in the warmer months and frequently checked when freezing is possible.
Further tips about how you can provide for house sparrows as well as other urban ecology matters can be found at my blog. Please subscribe to the RSS feed to receive regular updates.
I’m a “sparrow person”. I live in Chicago, USA. I work directly across from the Sears Tower skydeck (Jackson Blvd. side by the 311 S. Wacker park). Here in Chicago you’ll find alot of pigeons, gulls and sparrows. I’ve been feeding birds here for about 3 years. Many pigeons have gained my trust as they’ll sit across the street atop a Sears Tower wall waiting for me to arrive every morning around 9:30A. It’s always the same 9 or 10 birds!! LOL!! The “little brown jobs” sit in the tree on my side of Jackson Blvd. waiting for me also. One little male with one leg, which is a recent guest, usually approaches me about one foot away and asks for food. I do everything I can to make sure the sparrows get their share of food as the pigeons interfer most of the time. I feed my babies sunflower hearts, bread, donuts, etc. They’re intelligent, aggresive little birds and they’re quick enough to pick up any food before the pigeons reach it. I feel good that I’ve probably helped the LBJs maintain their nests for the past few Springs and I also make a pilgrimage there in the Winter to make sure they’ve got enough to eat.
excellent publish, very informative. I’m wondering why the other specialists of this sector don’t realize this. You should continue your writing. I’m confident, you have a huge readers’ base already!
UPDATE:
I feed many sparrows , which I can actually identify individually. There’s the males with black bib and colorful, the females plain and buff colored etc. Like I’ve already mentioned in my last blog, there’s this one little guy with one leg. He usually comes up to my podium across from Sears Tower skydeck and asks for food. Recently he’s been landing ontop of my podium showing no fear whatsoever. The other day it freaked me out how he found me far away from my stand. I was walking in the 311 park and he landed about 10 feet infront of me. I spoke to him in a soft voice and told him I’ll feed him soon. I continued walking and again, he landed infront of me. This went on for about 10 minutes. After about 15 minutes I arrived at a tree inside the park about 100 yards away from my podium. There were about 10-15 sparrows there to greet me, all of which I recognized. It was weird. Do sparrows really recognize people? Can they find a person that feeds them far away from their feeding area?
God Bless these little creatures that melt my heart. I’m basically an animal lover and I’d love to take some of these little LBJs home as pets. I hesitate to do so because I understand they are wild and wouldn’t be happy in captivity.
Just want to say your article is as amazing. The clearness in your submit is simply great and i could think you’re an expert in this subject. Well along with your permission allow me to take hold of your RSS feed to keep up to date with impending post. Thank you a million and please carry on the gratifying work.