This week’s note is about three birds that are invasive and not native to North America.
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The birds described here are house sparrow, European starling and rock pigeon. Other nonnative birds include house finch, cattle egret, Eurasian collard dove and ring-necked pheasant. However, they aren’t a problem the way the other three are.
House Sparrow
The house sparrow is one of the most widespread and abundant songbirds in the world. They are successful because they have associated with humans. Native to Eurasia and North Africa, house sparrows are seen in urban and farming areas all over the world.
The sparrows were introduced to Brooklyn, NY in 1851 to control caterpillar populations. By 1900 they had spread to the Rocky Mountains. Additional releases on the west coast enabled them to cover the entire continental U.S. and much of Canada.
The birds are tough, adaptable and aggressive. They survive on city sidewalks where few birds can live. In rural areas, they often evict native birds from their nests. We’ve had them destroy our bluebird eggs and kill the babies.
European Starling
The European starling, also known as common starling or just starling, apparently was introduced to North America in 1890 by well-meaning Shakespeare enthusiasts who wanted to have the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays present in New York’s Central Park. About 100 starlings were released.
Today they are found throughout the continental U.S., most of Canada and southeast Alaska. Starlings are chunky, blackbird-sized birds with short tails and long, slender bills. They are aggressive birds and will peck holes in other birds’ eggs, toss out their nesting material and kill the young.
This spring they destroyed the five kestrel eggs in the nest box we put up for kestrels.
Rock Pigeon.
The rock pigeon, also known as common pigeon or simply pigeon, was introduced to North America in Nova Scotia in 1606. It was brought by European settlers as an easy source of food. The current pigeon distribution includes all of the United States, Southern Canada and all of Central and South America. We see them occasionally at our place, but none have ever nested. They tend to be found in cities, not so much in rural areas.
