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Innovative Foraging by the House Sparrow Passer Domesticus

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Innovative Foraging by the House Sparrow Passer Domesticus 46 AUSTRALIAN FIELD ORNITHOLOGY 2005, 22, 46--47 Innovative Foraging by the House Sparrow Passer domesticus NEIL SHELLEY 16 Birdrock Avenue, Mount Martha, Victoria 3934 (Email: [email protected]) Summary This note describes an incidental observation of House Sparrows Passer domesticus foraging for insects trapped within the engine bay of motor vehicles in south-eastern Australia. Introduction The House Sparrow Passer domesticus is commensal with man and its global range has increased significantly recently, closely following human settlement on most continents and many islands (Long 1981, Cramp 1994). It is native to Eurasia and northern Africa (Cramp 1994) and was introduced to Australia in the mid 19th century (Biakers et al. 1984, Schodde & Tidemann 1997, Pizzey & Knight 1999). It is now common in cities and towns throughout eastern Australia (Biakers et al. 1984, Schodde & Tidemann 1997, Pizzey & Knight 1999, Barrett et al. 2003), particularly in association with human habitation (Schodde & Tidemann 1997), but is decreasing nationally (Barrett et al. 2003). Observation On 13 January 2003 at c. 1745 h Eastern Summer Time, a small group of House Sparrows was observed foraging in the street outside a restaurant in Port Fairy, on the south-western coast of Victoria (38°23' S, 142°14' E). Several motor vehicles were angle-parked in the street, nose to the kerb, adjacent to the restaurant. The restaurant had a few tables and chairs on the footpath for outside dining. The Sparrows appeared to be foraging only for food scraps, when one of them entered the front of a parked vehicle and emerged shortly after with an insect, which it then consumed. The activity was repeated several times by this and other Sparrows, over 15-20 minutes. During this time the Sparrows moved along the footpath, feeding on scraps beneath the tables and chairs, and occasionally venturing into the gutter and onto the edge of the road (presumably for other food items). Intriguingly, this behaviour was noted only with current-model, locally manufactured vehicles (i.e. not with imported or older, locally manufactured vehicles). The current-model, locally manufactured vehicles (e.g. Ford Falcon AU and Holden Commodore VX) are constructed with wide openings below the grille, making it relatively easy for a small bird such as a sparrow to reach the radiator where insects are trapped and accumulate, particularly in summer. Discussion The food and foraging behaviour of the House Sparrow are well known and well documented. Sparrows generally feed from the ground (Cramp 1994) on seeds and food scraps but also feed on insects, particularly when feeding young (Blakers et al. 1984, Cramp 1994, Schodde & Tidemann 1997, Simpson & Day 1999). Their close association with man has enabled them to improve their foraging efficiency, as it has made available to them high-yield energy sources (Cramp 1994). VOL. 22 (1) MARCH 2005 SHELLEY: Innovative Foraging by House Sparrow 47 There have been reports from Europe (Reader et al. 2003) and the United States of America (Forbush 1955, Sprunt & Chamberlain 1970, Kaufman 1996) of House Sparrows taking both dead and live insects stuck on motor vehicles, including reports of the taking of insects trapped on vehicle radiators from England (Fitter 1949, McDonald 1971, Bankier 1984, Simmons 1984), New Zealand (Flux & Thompson 1986) and the USA (Flux & Thompson 1986). This report and those from Canberra, ACT (Wilson 1954, McDonald 1971), Deniliquin, NSW (Hobbs 1955), and the York Peninsula, SA (Quinn 1972) confirm that the practice is also widespread in south-eastern Australia and that it has persisted for a considerable length of time. Vigilant observations by birdwatchers in other locations should reveal whether this foraging behaviour is common throughout Australia and not restricted to the south-eastern part of the continent. The adaptability of birds to take advantage of unusual food supplies is regularly documented (e.g. Minton 2001). As Sparrows were introduced successfully into Australia, New Zealand and the USA in the middle of the 19th century (Long 1981), well before the introduction of the automobile, this practice of foraging for insects from motor vehicles must have developed independently (Flux & Thompson 1986). A combination of circumstances seems to have presented the Sparrows at Port Fairy with an opportunity to forage for a food source for which there appears to be little competition. Acknowledgements I thank Stephen Holliday, David Watson and an anonymous referee for helpful comments on a draft, and Stephen Debus for additional references on foraging behaviour of House Sparrows. References Bankier, A.M. (1984), 'House Sparrows collecting insects from cars', British Birds 77, 121. Barrett, G., Silcocks, A., Barry, S., Cunningham, R. & Poulter, R. (Eds) (2003), The New Atlas of Australian Birds, Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, Melbourne. Blakers, M., Davies, S.J.J.F. & Reilly, PN. (Eds) (1984), The Atlas ofAustralian Birds, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. Cramp, S. (Ed.) (1994), Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic, val. 8, Oxford University Press, New York. Fitter, R.S.R. (1949), London's Birds, Collins, London. Flux, J.E.C. & Thompson, C.F. (1986), 'House Sparrows taking insects from car radiators', Notornis 33, 190-191. Forbush, E. H. (1955), A Natural History ofAme1ican Birds of Eastern and Central North America , Dover Publications Inc., New York. Hobbs, J.N. (1955), 'Sparrows taking dead grasshoppers from car radiators', Emu 55, 202. Kaufman, K. (1996), Lives of North American Birds, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, USA. Long, J .L. (1981), introduced Birds of the World , Reed, Sydney. McDonald, A.L.G. (1971), 'Unusual feeding behaviour by a House Sparrow', Australian Bird Watcher 4, 81. Minton, C. (2001), 'Unusual food for Bush Stone-curlew Burhinus grallarius', A ustralian Bird Watcher 19, 44. Pizzey, G. & Knight, F. (1999), The Field Guide to the Birds of A ustralia, Angus & Robertson, Sydney. Quinn, W.L. (1972), 'Feeding behaviour of a House Sparrow', Australian Bird Watcher 4, 203. Reader, S.M., Morand-Ferran, J., Cote, I. & Lefebvre, L. (2003), 'Unusual feeding behaviours in five species of Barbadian birds', El Pitirre 15, 117-123. Schodde, R. & Tidemann, S.C. (Eds) (1997), Reader's Digest Complete Book of A ustralian Birds, Reader's Digest, Sydney. Simmons, K.E.L. (1984), 'House Sparrows collecting insects from cars', British Birds 77, 121. Simpson, K. & Day, N. (1999), Field Guide to the Birds ofAustralia, Penguin, Melbourne. Sprunt, A. & Chamberlain, E.B. (Eds) (1970), South Carolina Bird Life, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, USA. Wilson, M.M. (1954), 'Sparrows as opportunists', Emu 54, 69. Received 26 Februmy 2004 • .
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