Bygone birding: Quest for house sparrow in southern California and Arizona

                                                                         

House sparrows - some in North American saw the introduced English species as 'a plague'

The following article appeared in a 1905-6 edition of The Condor,  bi-monthly magazine of the Cooper Ornithological Club of California. Written by O.W. Howard, it is entitled, The English Sparrow in the Southwest.

SO far as I can ascertain, the English sparrow (Passer domesticus) is found in every state in the Union, and in most of our large cities they are so common as to be considered a plague.

Why are there no English sparrows in southern California where the climatic conditions are so mild and inviting?

My first experience with the English sparrow occurred in December, 1901,when I had occasion to visit the town of Bakersfield.

I was much surprised to find the little fellows feeding on the paved streets in the centre of town. 

I knew the sparrows were common in San Francisco and neighbouring towns but had no idea they had found their way so far south. 

Later, in the spring of 1902, I found the sparrows nesting commonly about the principal buildings of Bakersfield; even at the court house they were occupying deserted swallows’ nests.

In 1903, I again visited Bakersfield several times and found that the sparrows had increased considerably. 

A number of pairs were nesting in cypress trees in yards and seemed to take the place of linnets. 

Late in the fall of the same year, I chanced to stop at the town of Tehachapi, about 4000 feet elevation, situated at the extreme summit of Tehachapi Pass through which the Southern Pacific railroad runs. 

Here I found the English sparrow in flocks feeding around the railroad yard. 

This was another revelation to me for I took it for granted that Bakersfield was their southernmost limit and did not expect to find them at this high altitude.

The Tehachapi Mountains are considered the natural dividing line between northern and southern California, the San Joaquin Valley on the north and the Antelope Valley on the south. 

After finding the sparrows at Tehachapi, I naturally expected to find them next at the town of Mojave which is located on the edge of the desert in Antelope valley and only about twenty-five miles south of Tehachapi. 

I searched several times at the town of Mojave during the year 1903 but failed to find a single sparrow. 

I have not had opportunity to visit that locality since 1903, but in the meantime have made some observations in Arizona.

While located at Tucson, in May, 1904, I was very much surprised one morning to see an English sparrow alight within ten feet of me on the principal street and at once commence scratching for its favourite food. 

I saw several other birds the same day and later in the season found about half a dozen pairs nesting in the switchboard boxes which are placed on telephone poles about 25 feet above the ground.

The birds entered these boxes through small holes in the bottom which seemed hardly large enough to admit the body of the bird, and an amusing thing to me was to see the little fellows with great bunches of nesting material in their beaks working like troopers and never stopping at the entrance hole but fairly diving up through it - if it is possible to dive up!

I inquired of some of the linemen as to whether or not the English sparrow had been seen in Tucson in previous years and could learn of only one pair which had nested in one of these same boxes the previous year. 

I am quite sure this is the first record for Tucson, for, in eight seasons’ collecting in Arizona, I stopped at Tucson each year and would hardly overlook a bird so conspicuous. 

The same season (1904), I saw a single pair of the sparrows at Tombstone, Arizona, and Mr. F. C. Willard also saw a pair of the birds at Tombstone, being the first record for that town. 

I do not know of any other records for Arizona though the birds may be common in some of the northern towns.

One would naturally think from the notes gathered that the English sparrows are gradually closing in on southern California and that, before many moons, we can expect to see them in the streets of Los Angeles.

Should this come to pass there will be a good chance for the Cooper Ornithological Club to do some missionary work by taking steps to keep this pest from multiplying. 

The house finch, or linnet, seems to take the place of the English sparrow in this locality and is also considered a pest, but holds no comparison in that regard to the English sparrow. 

I fear the house finches would not last long if the sparrows once got a good start.