There is probably no more of an obnoxious introduced bird species than the house sparrow. A mostly urban bird, it competitively kills our native cavity breeders by smashing in their heads while they are inside birdhouses we put out for tree swallows and bluebirds.
One has to take caution of wherever we install nest boxes, and never near a horse farm or rural barnyards, because the house sparrows feed on the seeds of hay or manure there. We must take care that birdhouses placed for desired species are well away from these large animals’ domiciles.
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