Spanish Sparrow
By Birding-Aus, on June 16th, 2014
Hello fellow birders. I am grateful to Michael for raising questions about Spanish Sparrow. I too have been in Sicily, in Pozzallo, near to Ragusa and Siracusa in the last few weeks and was perplexed by the sparrows I was seeing as so much seemed different from the Australian sparrows I am familiar with. And yet the online field guides (some are a bit useless) I referred to shed no light. It has given me considerable pleasure reading the erudite feedback given by Nicholas and others and shows that sharing what one might consider ordinary sightings is valuable. I too spent ages looking at the ever present swifts and from the guides it seemed they were described as the Common Swift Apus apus. Rob Morris’s comment about the possibility of some being Pallid Swifts I found very interesting. Best wishes, Patrick Scully Sent from my iPhone _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
When (way back in 1978) I did my honours year in Melbourne about a comparison of social behaviour of the House & Tree Sparrows (based on the aspect of sexual dimorphism or not), I collected and weighed and measured many of them and whilst I can’t find the data right now (and sadly I never published any of it – if only I had known of a future HANZAB), I do recall that the range of weights of House Sparrows seemed to me to be very wide, as in a high standard deviation relative to the mean. So presumably there is a lot for selective pressures to work on. Not that I know of any outcomes. Philip —–Original Message—– Jim Tate Sent: Monday, 16 June 2014 6:24 AM Bringing the (Spanish) Sparrow discussion back to Australia for the moment…. On three trips to the Brisbane area in the last ten years I was surprised by the low numbers and small size of the Passer sp. around town. Here in Washington, DC they are large, dirty, and everywhere. Perhaps Brisbane is just cleaner than DC so there is less to eat. I know that in Brisbane they can’t sit around smoking butts off the ground like they can in DC. Or maybe it is something else that keeps their numbers and size down. I am reminded that in England the P. domesticus appear to be dropping in numbers and distribution. Conventional wisdom blames the decline in horses, also essentially absent in DC. I am reminded of a story I once read of an ornithologist that took a trip across Europe and Asia by horse cart. Somewhere in the steppes of Russia he stopped and shot all of the House Sparrows following his horse cart to prevent a range extension. Probably apocryphal. -TATE _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
Re Jim Tate’s story: One W.A. objection to the construction of the Trans-Continental Railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie was that Sparrows and Starlings might follow the construction gangs (all horse transport in those days, pre 1914) to the detriment of wheat and other crops in WA. The railway was built eastward way out into the deserts, and all the horses withdrawn and all feed cleared up, before the construction teams started working west from South Australia. WA is still Sparrow-free. Anthea Fleming On 16/06/2014 6:24 AM, Jim Tate wrote: _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
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