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House Sparrow
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Author:  John Clarkson [ Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:09 pm ]
Post subject:  House Sparrow
The diet of the House Sparrow is pretty varied

Diet: Mostly grains, wild and domestic; weed seeds; insects and other arthropods during breeding season. Forages on the ground for seeds. May pierce flowers to get at nectar. 60% livestock feed in fields, as waste feed, or from animal dung (wheat, oats, cracked corn, sorghum); 18% cereals (grains from field or storage); 17% weed seeds (major species: ragweed, crabgrass, bristlegrass, knotweed); and 4% insects. Urban birds eat mostly birdseed (including millet, milo, and sunflower) and food waste (bread, restaurant waste, etc.). Nestlings diet is about 68% insects, and 30% livestock feed on average. For young 1 - 3 days old, invertebrates make up 90% of diet decreasing to 49% by 7 days. Insects fed include what is abundant, including alfalfa weevils, bark beetle larvae, periodic cicadas, Dung beetles, and Melanoplus grasshoppers.

and they regularly tear yellow flowers in the spring but today on my allotment a male bird was feeding for several minutes on my leaf beet spinach and could clearly be seen to tear off and eat pieces.

Has anyone witnessed anything similar?

John
Author:  John T Goy [ Sat Apr 09, 2011 2:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: House Sparrow
Seems odd you don't mention peanuts. The 40+ House Sparrows that come every day to my front garden have the choice of fat balls, peanuts, black sunflower seeds and I recently started feeding them "Cheeky Boy" mix consisting of wheat, maize grits, black sunflower seeds, yellow millet, split blue peas and other small seeds. By far the most popular is peanuts they cannot get enough of them! The "Cheeky Boy" mix I spread on the ground and all manner of birds eat it.

In the back garden there is a similar selection with far more feeders but only about half a dozen Spugs probably because there are loads of birds wanting the feed and they are better off in the front garden [less hassle].

On odd occasions I've seen them eat the niger seed but overall it's got to be peanuts which are their number one food with the black sunflower seeds second and the "Cheeky Boy" mix third.

Regards

John
Author:  Jayne Eames [ Sat Apr 09, 2011 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: House Sparrow
I watched a male House Sparrow picking at dandelion flowers in my garden a couple of days ago, which i thought seemed strange so took a pic as I have never seen them do that before, I was wondering if it was after insects inside the flower head? Also the females were eating green leaves which I think were ground ivy? but couldnt be absolutely certain.
Author:  Roy Harvey [ Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: House Sparrow
John,

I grow beetroot every year in my garden and have to cover them up us soon as the plants are through otherwise
the House Sparrows strip the leaves from them with just the stalks remaining.

Roy
Author:  John Watt [ Sun Apr 10, 2011 5:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: House Sparrow
Same as Roy. I've grown beetroot for about 45 years and always had to cover them by way of protection against house sparrows. Otherwise it's a case of start again.

Perhaps there's something in the leaves of betula spp. they like.

Also, when I lived at Nocton, with a limestone wall surrounding the garden, house and sometimes tree sparrows would excavate the mortar to a depth of up to about three inches where it was soft, presumably after some mineral content. I regularly see the same behaviour here at Woodhall on a brick-walled raised bed, but the mortar is harder and the damage less.

John
Author:  John Watt [ Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: House Sparrow
Sorry about the nonsense - I meant Beta species, not Betula, which is birch.

John
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