Recent observations indicate that all of the house sparrows have moved to
Delaware County in Ohio.

OK, maybe not all of them, but there certainly have been no shortages on on
several local counts, or for that matter in our back yard.  In any case, we
soon will have Christmas Bird Count numbers from all over the country
(downloadable from the Audubon Web site:
http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/index.html ).

It would be quite interesting to see if there are any short term trends in
the CBC data; I have not previously heard of long term declines in North
America.  In Great Britain, however, the decline in house sparrow numbers
seems to be perceived as something of a crisis.

Bill Heck

On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 2:09 PM, Barrett,Robert P <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Does anyone else find it odd that Kathi listed a house sparrow as bird 51
> of 2009?  I have not seen one yet, either, and I've counted around 50
> species, too.  I was in Gulf Shores AL on January 1.  Since then, I've been
> through MS, LA, MS, AL, TN, and KY on my way back home, and saw not even a
> probable sparrow perched on a rooftop.  Not that I'm complaining, just
> puzzled.
>
> Dr. Bob Barrett
> Geography and Planning
> University of Akron
> ________________________________________
> From: Ohio birds [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathi
> Hutton [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 6:16 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Low Numbers
>
> Hello, Joe in the Woods, and thank you for your encouraging e-mail on my
> half-hearted quest for the January 100 club.  I ended Jan 1 with 48
> species, but the necessity of working for a living combined with wet
> weather has kept me out of the field since.  I did add House Finch and
> White-crowned Sparrow as feeder birds and FINALLY saw a House Sparrow
> for #51, but that is as far as I have gotten.  I plan to get out a bit
> this weekend, then am hoping to add several species at the winter OOS
> trip to the Wilds on Jan. 17.
>
> C'mon, underachievers!  Show us your low numbers!
>
> Kathi Hutton
> Felicity, Clermont County
> http://katdocsworld.blogspot.com/
>
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--
Bill Heck

______________________________________________________________________

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