Take a good look at this bold-faced killer who chased away the parents and killed the babies of our nesting Black-capped Chickadees. It's a non-native species called a House Sparrow, formerly known as an English Sparrow. We were enjoying the busy activity of the adult Chickadees as they brought spiders and green worms to feed the little babies which are born blind, naked and completely helpless. I became alarmed yesterday morning when I noticed the presence of this male Sparrow. I spent most of the morning keeping him at bay and slowly the adult Chickadees returned to feeding. In the afternoon we left the house for some shopping errands and when we returned I checked the nest and found the last dead baby. The nesting box has a specifically sized entrance hole of 1 1/8" to prevent House Sparrows from entry, but some how he must of squeezed in. I've had plenty of experience with these aggressive House Sparrows over the years---they are bad birds.
Just killed the babies, Jim, and not for a food source, but because it was establishing territory? Natural selection, I guess, but sad nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteHouse Sparrows are aggressive competitors for cavities as nesting sites. Their their goal is to eliminate other cavity dwellers.
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