Where have all the sparrows gone?

[japple]

Our family has been feeding birds here at the same site in N. GA since 1980. We've always had a variety of birds common to southeastern US. Lately, the sparrows seem to have disappeared. I wondered why the mornings were so silent even though spring is just around the corner. Wondering if a large population of cardinals would cause the smaller birds like sparrows to stay away. It is a mystery to me.

[femmocrat]

1. I haven't noticed a shortage in PA.

We have a lot of them at the feeders. I couldn’t tell you which varieties, but I’ve seen a normal amount of them.

[Docreed2003]

2. African or European??

Teasing, couldn't resist the Monty Python joke...we still have them here in Middle TN. Seems to be about average in sightings and I've heard plenty this am from our porch. Sounds like spring here, despite the storms headed this way

[yellerpup]

3. We also have a large population of cardinals

and very few sparrows. I have counted 18 feeding at a time in our smallish back yard. We have grackles, fat mockingbirds, returning robins. I've seen 3 sparrows just lately, so I've been wondering why as well.

[japple]

5. Sounds like my backyard. We have lots of bluejays, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers

towhees, doves, finches, and lately the redwing blackbirds have made their appearance. There are bluebirds in the fields nearby, but they don't come to the feeders. We used to have tons of LBBs year-round and now there are none. I really miss the song sparrows at daybreak.

[doc03]

4. There seems to be plenty in Ohio. I put out a

box for bluebirds two years ago. Two years in a row I have blue birds start nesting and the sparrows run them off.

[efhmc]

6. I hadn't realized their absence until I read it here.

Am in central Texas.

[japple]

7. This is just an observation of my back yard--all anecdotal. I don't have any scientific evidence

and don't know if the same applies to your area.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

8. Used to have tons of House Sparrows

But they have been rare the last couple of years. Their population is declining.
We still have a variety of other types of sparrows and there is one male House Sparrow on the farm exhibiting nesting behavior. Hope he sticks around and finds a mate.
SE Indiana.

[marble falls]

9. No English s[arrows this spring. They used to mob their feeder.

[Mosby]

10. my area has less sparrows but a lot more finches

From in the past. I don't know if the two are related.

[japple]

11. We have had a decline in goldfinches and the house finches have, for the past

few years, been afflicted with some sort of eye virus. We kept finding dead finches at the edge of the house a few years ago and I contacted state wildlife dept. to ask what might be the problem. He replied that finches often have limited sight or blindness due to a type of virus. They fly into buildings or windows and are killed.

[elleng]

12. Have seen some sparrows here (southern MD,)

and a friendly mockingbird, but have been missing cardinals (and blue jays,) and past years large flocks of cedar waxwings. Awaiting return of ospreys.

[bif]

13. We used to have tons of them here in Michigan

That's almost alll you'd hear chirping all day and evening. I don't think I've heard a single one this spring. Not one! Is something killing them off?