Exploring Nature: House Sparrows

I recently noticed several house sparrows in my backyard, welcome newcomers after having mostly chickadees, titmice and cardinals.

Small and brownish, these birds are not very spectacular or exotic. But don’t underestimate the little rascals. The Chinese did and lived to regret it.

In 1958, Mao Zedong, chairman of the People’s Republic of China, launched what he called “The Great Leap Forward.” He designated four “pests” which were to be removed from China — rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows.

The first three culprits were viewed as transmitters of disease and sparrows were vilified because they pecked at grain, thereby eating a vital food crop.

So people chased after sparrows, shot them with slingshots and destroyed their nests and eggs, killing millions of the little birds.

And then came a severe outbreak of locusts. They swarmed over the countryside and ate every plant encountered. With no sparrows to eat them, the bugs went wild. Tens of millions of Chinese died of starvation.

Chairman Mao replaced the sparrow with another “pest” — the bedbug.

The Chinese were not alone in hating the house sparrow. This little bird was introduced into Texas at Galveston in the late 1860’s, by James M. Brown, and it was soon blamed for clogging up the city water system with messy nests.

In Philadelphia, a thousand sparrows were released in 1869 and by 1883, a law was passed to encourage killing them. Sparrow pot-pie became a favored item on many menus.

So sparrows have not always been welcome, even though the only thing they’ve been guilty of was acting like sparrows. I think they are fine little birds.