To many people, the sparrow resembles the sounds of childhood. Waking up in the morning, the first thing that came to consciousness was the merry tweet of a bird. Without them, it’s just boring and dull. The world seems overcast and poor in these birds.
Nutrition
Sparrows can be found almost everywhere: in cities, villages, in fields and forests. Wherever man goes, he can see flocks of these wonderful birds everywhere. But the bulk of these birds lives side by side with humans. They build nests near residential buildings. In winter, people sparing, feed them.
Sparrow - the bird is not picky in food and does not refuse grain mix, picks up all the grains that fell to the ground, not eaten by other birds. Sparrows also eat seeds on branches, eat weeds left over from autumn. They like to enjoy berries of viburnum and mountain ash. Understanding people, picking berries in the fall, leave some on the tree to feed the birds.
Sparrow Weight
Sparrow weight is only 23 - 35 grams. Despite its small size, the bird is quite smart and inquisitive, as well as loyal to its soul mate. According to the observations of ornithologists, sparrow couples are created for life, so the loss of their beloved is a real tragedy for a bird.
Nests and chicks
Nests are built in the crevices of buildings, they especially like to settle under the eaves of houses, also in hollows of trees or in birdhouses. In the clutch there are 4 - 10 white eggs with brownish specks; it takes 11 to 13 days to hatch the chicks.Both parents hatch eggs in turn, and begin to do this as soon as the female lays the first egg, so the difference in age, and therefore in weight, in the chicks is up to 10 days, and this is a lot for small birds.
Because of this, in large clutches, younger chicks usually die. Chicks are under the care of their caring parents for some time until they learn to fly well, and until then their parents protect them from predators and feed them with insects so that their mouths do not weaken. During the summer, a married couple manages to feed 2–3 broods.
The benefits of sparrows
The house sparrow is an indispensable farm assistant. Eating all sorts of insects in the summer (bugs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, midges), birds eat pests of gardens and fields. So, this bird provides invaluable services to gardeners and farmers. Many villagers and summer residents who have fruit trees in their yards and gardens, thanks to sparrows, refuse pesticides, and in some countries they even erected a monument for their help in pest control. This bird is a must, as a friend who will always help.
Downsizing
But recently, people and ornithologists began to notice that in some parts of the country sparrows are becoming less and less. Huge flocks of birds used to fly, but now you can see only a few dozen birds, and not in every yard. What is the reason for this?
It turns out that sparrows are dying due to poor-quality food stuffed with chemicals. In the fields began to apply chemical fertilizers with spray.In birds eating grain from the fields, the body stops producing calcium, which is necessary for the construction of an egg shell. Also, the contamination of soil and water, the intensive construction of cities, and the increase in mass means of mobile communications are affecting the reduction in the number of sparrows. This affects everything negatively on the health and genetics of birds. The question is, how can each of us help feathered friends? Ornithologists say that in order to save birds, people should feed them and, as before, start building birdhouses and feeders.
To monitor the purity of nature: do not throw out garbage wherever you want, also do not burn it yourself, since burning plastic is dangerous for the environment and a living organism, if possible, do not use pesticides (after eating poisoned berries, the bird dies), take care of nature. And scientists say that sparrows can be used as a biological device, which can determine the purity of the environment.
