Henry's Daily Factoids: #367--AVIAN DOUBLE STANDARDS

The house wren (Troglodytes aedon) is a small, aggressive songbird found throughout much of the United States. It will often take over the nesting sites of other birds.

The house sparrow a/k/a the English sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a small, aggressive songbird found throughout much of the United States. It will often take over the nesting sites of other birds.

House wrens are loved by most ornithologists. The manufacturing of birdhouses specifically designed for wrens is a major cottage (so to speak) industry. It is a federal offense to molest or harm a wren, its eggs, or its active nest.

House sparrows are reviled by most ornithologists. The bird folks actively discourage the making of birdhouses suitable for sparrows, and they further advocate that the entrance holes in wren houses be of such a size that the slightly larger house sparrow cannot fit into them. House sparrows are not federally protected, and you will not end up in Leavenworth Penitentiary if you humanely kill one or destroy its eggs or nest (although such actions will still subject you to scrutiny from a higher authority).

Why are house wrens treated like royalty while house sparrows are reviled as the scum-sucking spawn of outhouse maggots? The answer is simple--xenophobia. House wrens are native to the United States. House sparrows were imported in the mid-1800s for pest control and instead became pests themselves. The fact that many Americans have never seen a bluebird can be attributed in large part to the fact that house sparrows evicted so many of them from their nesting sites.

While one cannot gainsay the undesirability of letting invasive species take over (such as with the rabbit crisis in Australia or the python assault of Florida), there may well be a point where the barn door has not merely been opened but has been blown off of its hinges. Although house sparrow populations have declined somewhat with the industrialization of farms, these birds are still ubiquitous and do quite well in both urban and rural settings. Perhaps we should just resign ourselves to the fact that house sparrows are here to stay. After all, there is no way that hundreds of millions of birds could be eliminated in a matter of a few years--is there?