Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!uwvax!oddjob!ncar!ames!amdahl!oliveb!oliven!mjm From: mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: house sparrows Message-ID: <22955@oliveb.olivetti.com> Date: 2 Jun 88 23:47:26 GMT Sender: news@oliveb.olivetti.com Distribution: na Lines: 21 Since all this talk about house sparrows has been going on, I have a question for those on the net. I have been working on the Breeding Bird Atlas for Santa Clara County here in the Bay Area. My block consists mostly of the chaparral covered and live oak wooded foothills in the Santa Cruz Mountains, with just a corner of the block including residential areas. In the 2 months that I have been atlassing, I have not seen a house sparrow in my block until recently, when I finally got around to the residential areas. It seems to me that house sparrows are very dependent on human habit- ation for their survival, and that when one gets away from the human habitat, house sparrows are nonexistant. Has anyone else on the net had any experiences along these lines? Concerning the disputed birdhouses, how close are they placed to human residences and have you seen the same thing with houses that are placed out in the "wild"? Now starlings are a bird of a different color. These suckers are every- where. looking and listing, Mike