I'm on the west side of Manhattan, and like Dave, I rarely see house sparrows. I've had a few house finches this winter and have also had even fewer female purple finches over the last couple weeks. I'm in a pretty heavily-wooded area.
Marla Riley County
On Thu, Jan 29, 2026, 11:08 AM VIC & PAM MARTIN <butterfly...> wrote:
> Dan, > We have very few house sparrows, but lots of house and gold finches. I'm > not sure why, but count myself lucky! > Pam Martin > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dan Mulhern" <browndog06...> > To: "KSBIRD-L" <KSBIRD-L...> > Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2026 9:12:23 AM > Subject: "House" birds > > I remember being excited when House Finches began moving into the > Manhattan area, maybe in the 1980s. Now I didn't have to go visit family in > Denver to see them. Once they firmly established themselves as a breeding > population, they seemed to displace House Sparrows at my feed/water > stations. Sparrows didn't disappear but the numbers went way down. > Fast forward to maybe early 2000s, and the two species had reached more of > an equilibrium in my sphere of observation. Sometimes more of one, > sometimes more of the other, but with House Finches holding perhaps a > slight numerical advantage on an annual basis. > Fast forward again to the 2020s, and especially 2026, and the House Finch > numbers have been overwhelmingly surpassed by House Sparrows. This winter > I'd estimate at least 85% House Sparrows, and that might be an > underestimation. > I'm wondering if there will "always" be this ebb and flow, back and forth? > Have House Sparrows finally regained their permanent edge? Are House > Finches more susceptible to avian influenza? Questions without answers yet. > Anyone else in KS seeing trends like these? > Dan Mulhern Manhattan > > For KSBIRD-L archives or to change your subscription options, go to > https://listserv.ksu.edu/ksbird-l.html > For KSBIRD-L guidelines go to > http://www.ksbirds.org/KSBIRD-LGuidelines.htm > To contact a listowner, send a message to > mailto:<ksbird-l-request...> > > For KSBIRD-L archives or to change your subscription options, go to > https://listserv.ksu.edu/ksbird-l.html > For KSBIRD-L guidelines go to > http://www.ksbirds.org/KSBIRD-LGuidelines.htm > To contact a listowner, send a message to > mailto:<ksbird-l-request...> >
