House Sparrow image

House Sparrows

"If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere" could have been the motto for House Sparrows in 1851 when they were released in Brooklyn, NY as a way to control caterpillars. Since that first North American introduction, the House Sparrow has made itself comfortable across the continent, frequently residing in man-made structures and near houses or other buildings. 

In 2023, Haikuboxes identified over 24.8 million House Sparrow vocalizations, making it the most frequently identified bird.  Their calls are so common, many people tune them out when in a suburban or urban soundscape. All About Birds notes that almost 5,000 scientific papers have been published with the House Sparrow as the study species. Recent research has been wide-ranging, including an Australian study that used sparrows as a proxy for childhood lead exposure and one that looked at sparrow visits to poultry farms in Spain to better understand this potential pathway of pathogen transmission.

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