House sparrows & Starlings at home

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by theresagreen in bird behaviour, birds of Wales, garden wildlife, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Rhos-on-Sea

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birds of conservation concern, garden birds, house sparrow, house sparrows taking pampas grass, passer domesticus, starling

I was pleased to see House sparrows once again topped this year’s list of the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch in England, Wales and Scotland, but we shouldn’t get complacent, they’re still on the ‘Red List’ of birds requiring the highest conservation priority, along with other species needing urgent action.

Over the past couple of weeks I have spent some afternoons dog-sitting for my daughter, which has given me the opportunity to catch up with the little flock that regard her garden, together with those of the immediate neighbours’ as their territory.

160222-Nat's garden-House sparrow after bathing

House sparrows love to bathe and sit on the fence to dry out

I don’t blame them for settling here, they have everything they need to live as easy and productive life as it is possible for birds to enjoy. Throughout the year they come and go throughout the day, enjoying the bounty of well-stocked bird feeders, a pond in which to bathe and hedges to provide cover and perching places. Every evening the whole community returns to roost safely within the prickly pyracantha hedge. Now they are well into the throws of nesting. Earlier on they began refurbishing last year’s nests or rebuilding any lost through winter pruning. There are perhaps 4-5 nests, sited close together, although the level of noise that emanates from within sounds like there should be more. A couple more pairs prefer the loftier location of the eaves above the third floor at the front of the house.

In the breeding season the dominant birds leave the safety of the hedges and perch prominently on the highest points of shrubs to proclaim their territory, although the individual territory of the male House Sparrow really only consists of the nesting hole and a very small area around it, which is defended vigorously.

Dominant males have larger, darker feather ‘bib’ patches

Females judge males on the vigor of his behaviour and also by his plumage. The black bib and how it is displayed is hugely important for him and size matters. Apparently males with small bibs can be induced to behave more boldly if they have bigger and blacker bibs painted on them!

160403-Nat's garden-House sparrow on elder

A younger male with only a semblance of a bib

160222-Nat's garden-House sparrow female perched

Dominant females join their partners, but tend to stay slightly lower down and prefer a little more cover

160222-Nat's garden-House sparrows eating greens

Female House sparrows eating fresh greenery

Every year, when the nests are built or refurbished, the sparrows systematically strip the soft fluffy seed heads of the pampas grass that grows in a neighbouring garden. I spent ages one afternoon watching them as they returned repeatedly to strip the stems and carry off the fronds. I assume they use the fluffy parts to line their nests, but wonder if there are seeds to eat too? I find this behaviour fascinating and have witnessed it in South Wales where pampas was growing and also in our garden in Spain. In each location they begin working on the plant on the same day, arriving sometimes in numbers, males and females and set to, detaching the fronds and carrying them off a beakful at time. The harvest continues over a few days until the stems are left bare.

A Starling pair are nesting in one of the chimney pots and they too enjoy the feeding and bathing facilities, also pausing to dry out on perched on the fence or at the top of the hedge. Still one of our commonest garden birds, its decline elsewhere makes it too a Red List species.

The bird in the photographs below is the male of the pair, identified by the blue colouration at the base of his bill; the female has a similar patch that is coloured pink.

The male sings beautifully, sometimes from up on the roof but also from the fence and the top of the hedge. His mate doesn’t get out much at the moment, so must be sitting on eggs.

The starling was singing, hence the fluffed out throat feathers

Starling female has a pink patch at the base of her bill

PS: The pampas grass is now just a collection of bare dry stems!

Bring back Pampas grass

28 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by theresagreen in bird behaviour, grasses, Nature

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Greenfinch, house sparrows taking pampas grass, invasive weeds, pampas grass

There was a large clump of Pampas grass in full flower in the Botanical Gardens in Leicester, and when I arrived back in Spain the plant in my garden is flowering also. I like the dramatic appearance of this very large plant, the feathery flowerheads are beautiful when lit by the sun and bow and sway gracefully when the wind passes through.

The clump of pampas grass in my garden

Cortaderia selloana, commonly known as Pampas Grass, is a tall grass native to southern South America and Patagonia and is named for the areas of pampas where it is found.

Pampas Grass is a tall grass, growing in dense tussocks that can reach a height of 3 m (9.8 ft) . The leaves are evergreen, usually bluish-green but can be silvery grey; they are long and slender, 1–2 m (3.3 to 6.6 ft) long and 1 cm broad, and one of the downsides of the plant is that they have very sharp edges and should be handled with care.

Pampas grass flowerheads

The flowers are produced in dense silvery white panicles from 20–40 cm (7.9 – 15.8 inches) long and on a 2–3 m (6.6 – 9.8 ft) tall stem.

The plant was named by Alexander von Humboldt in 1818, after the German botanist and naturalist Friedrich Sellow, who studied the flora of South America, especially that of Brazil.

Pampas grass plants may produce up to a million seeds during its lifetime

Pampas Grass is highly adaptable and can grow in a wide range of environments and climates. In some areas (for example California, Hawaii and parts of the cooler Northern areas of Spain), it is regarded as an invasive weed, whilst in New Zealand and South Africa the plant is banned from sale and propagation for the same reasons.

I am not too clear how it is regarded here in southern Spain, but it is a frequent sight around our area where it grows on the roadsides and more particularly in our local nature reserve. It does not seem to cause concern there and is actually named on one of the information boards as being present.

House Sparrow (m) atop Pampas

The flowerheads are very long-lasting, appearing first in September, but after a winter of being battered by rain and wind, the plant begins to look rather scruffy. Despite that, I leave mine to stand beacause at some time towards the end of April or early May, the local flock of House Sparrows will begin to arrive to collect what remains of the fluffy flowerheads.

April-May-House Sparrows begin to strip the old flowerheads

It is a delightful scene; over the course of a few days the Sparrows strip the stems piece by piece, cramming their beaks with as much material as possible, then fly off with it, I assume in order to line their nests. They come in relays, both males and females and work industriously until there is nothing left on the dry stems and even pieces dropped to the ground will be gleaned. This has to be instinctive species behaviour as the House Sparrows that shared our garden in South Wales used to do exactly the same thing to the plant in our neighbour’s garden.

A male house sparrow with his beak full

My plant grows a distance away from where I sit to watch the birds and it is in a shaded spot, so I did not immediately spot that Greenfinches sometimes join with the sparrows for a share of the grass. I am not sure whether they too take it for nesting purposes or because there may still be seeds there to eat, but they want it badly enough to squabble over. They are not the only species I’ve spotted muscling in, the last couple of years Blackbirds have also been taking a share.

A Greenfinch squabbling with a House Sparrow

Pampas as a part of social history

Pampas grass was a very fashionable garden plant back in the 1970s, advocated for inclusion by the likes of Percy Thrower and has become a gardening icon of that decade. It was equally stylish to have a large vase of the dried fluffy plumes in the living room, where they looked very decorative, (I confess to having them myself- they collected a lot of dust). In recent years the plant seems to have fallen from favour, perhaps because it is a very large and modern gardens are on the small side, or maybe it is because growing the plant seems to have acquired a new symbolism, particularly if you display it in your front garden….

(tongue in cheek this next bit, no offence intended)

Urban Myth-Swinging

A widespread urban myth is that Pampas grass is used by swingers to advertise their presence to other swingers in the area. The most commonly repeated version states that in the UK and Ireland a patch of Pampas grass is planted somewhere in the front garden to act as a signal to passers by that swingers live in the home.

I had not heard that before and have to say that my plant was in the garden when I arrived, and will remain to attract and benefit a different kind of wildlife ( fortunately a high wall conceals its presence from the sight of non-flying passers-by.)

Despite the connotations, I would still recommend Pampas grass as an addition to a garden designed to benefit wildlife, if only to enhance the lives of your local House Sparrows, just be careful where you place it!

Interesting links relating to growing Pampas grass from: The Daily Telegraph on How to grow Pampas and The Independent- In Praise of Naff