Bird Canada is featuring a series of posts from Ted Chesky, Nature Canada’s Manager of Bird Conservation. He is outlining the findings in The State of Canada’s Birds report which draws on 40 years of data to create the first-ever comprehensive picture of the current health of Canada’s birds. Released by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI-Canada), under the leadership of Environment Canada, Bird Studies Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Nature Canada, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Wildlife Habitat Canada, the report points to the strong influence of human activity on bird populations, both positive and negative, as well as the need for urgent action for bird conservation.
The first post deals with birds in our big backyard – Canada’s Grassland Birds Face Declining Populations
Posted by Pat Bumstead
People keep putting out house sparrow friendly bird houses (holes bigger than 1 1/8″) essentially assisting these birds to propagate. These birds are known to bully and drive other birds away from feeding areas and even raid and predate nests of other birds. They only eat seeds and do nothing to the pest insect population and are more of a threat to songbird populations than cats. A way that people can help curb their population is to replace or refit birdhouses with smaller hole sizes so these birds cannot get in to nest. When the topic of declining songbird populations is brought up, why do I not hear of this issue?
The threat that introduced birds like House Sparrows and European Starlings pose to native birds is well-documented. You are right that if people used nest boxes with smaller entrance holes they would only get Chickadees, Nuthatches, and House Wrens, and exclude Starlings and House Sparrows. I think many people aren’t aware of this and just buy whatever boxes are available in the stores. In addition, many people are trying to get Mountain Bluebirds or Tree Swallows and end up with House Sparrows if they live in an urban area. Nevertheless, both House Sparrows and European Starlings appear to be in decline, but then so are most other species.