By Joel Jorgensen
Wise people will tell you to avoid thinking too highly about yourself when things go right and not getting down on yourself when they do not. The reason for this life lesson is that your circumstances can change despite and in spite of yourself. If capable of self-reflection, this may be the collective view of house sparrows in North America as their story has seen a tremendous rise and unceremonious fall.
Presently there is high awareness about the ecological and economic risks and dangers of introducing non-native species to places where they do not belong. However, in the 1800s, when invasive species introductions were all the rage, a contingent of European-American settlers strongly advocated introducing the familiar house sparrows to North America from Europe as a way to control insect pests. In 1850, the first house sparrows were released in Brooklyn, New York, and they quickly spread. If that were not enough, continued introductions elsewhere in North America hastened the species’ rapid spread and eventual takeover of the continent.
In Nebraska, some of these birds were imported from Philadelphia and released in Nebraska City in the early 1870s. House sparrows quickly spread from town to town, apparently aided by railroads. By the 1880s, house sparrows had colonized Lincoln, Blair and Beatrice, but it took until 1895 for the species to be found in places like Gordon in northwestern Nebraska. At the beginning of the 20th century, though, the house sparrow had consolidated its range in the state and over most of the continental United States.
It did not take long for views of this species to sour, as it was quickly realized that releases were misguided, and the house sparrow was soon deemed a pest. Hordes of house sparrows consumed grain, built nests in openings in buildings and homes, made messes of structures and walkways with their waste, and outcompeted several native bird species. They also never lived up to the hype of controlling problematic insects. At their peak, perhaps a half billion house sparrows inhabited North America and were introduced to parts of South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Fortunately, as time has marched on into the modern era, the house sparrow’s heyday has come and gone. Since the 1970s, this species’ population in North America decreased by more than 75 percent, and as numbers have decreased so have the problems associated with this species. Reasons for its decline are changes in agriculture practices, modern building techniques that limit nesting locations, and increases in avian predators that specialize in preying on small birds. In addition, the house sparrow also faces competition from the house finch, a species native to western North America that has expanded across the continent both naturally and via introduction in New York City in 1940. House finches also are not a nuisance in the same ways the house sparrow is, even when they occur in large numbers.
House sparrows remain a fairly common bird in Nebraska and throughout North America, and there is no evidence suggesting they will disappear altogether. However, the species has also seen substantial declines over its native range in Europe and Asia. During a recent vacation to Spain, I was initially dumbfounded to see locals had put up nest boxes on a building to attract this species, hoping as we would for purple martins to nest in artificial gourds.
But after a little thought this all made sense, bringing us back to that important lesson: Circumstances can change despite and in spite of yourself.
Joel Jorgensen is the Nongame Bird Program Manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.