House Sparrow Behavior - DIA (Denver)

[Jared Del Rosso]

I spent this morning at Denver International Airport (Denver Co.), having rescheduled an early Thursday flight to today. Well before sunrise, around 4:45 AM, I watched a female House Sparrow "foraging" in the upstairs section of the A terminal. It's not unusual to see House Sparrows in airports, but it was neat to see this one up for my well-lit, indoor, "nocturnal" eBird checklist.

Even neater was the bird's drinking behavior. A little later (though still before dawn), the sparrow followed me to the water fountain, drinking after I did. I actually had lost track of the bird, but it clearly hadn't lost track of me, for it was drinking water left in the fountain before I even made it back to my seat. Makes me think it rather closely watches travelers and that water source.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO 

[Janeal Thompson]

Interesting observation, Jared, thank you for sharing.

Janeal Thompson

Lamar, CO

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[Ira Sanders]

When DIA was built, a number of birds were trapped inside the building and the staff used to have a bird feeder set up to help them survive.  Management put the kibosh on that and the last time I saw the sparrows in DIA they seemed to be surviving off the garbage left by travelers but spent a lot of time looking out the windows.

Ira Sanders

Golden

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Ira Sanders

Golden, CO

"My mind is a raging torrent flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."

[Pamela Dowd]

During my travels (and I can’t remember the airport) I’ve actually seen and interesting “trapping tent” set up with food, water and greenery into which the sparrows could enter and not escape.  When I questioned a security guard he indicated a volunteer birding group came on a weekly basis and removed the birds, kept the space clean, and refreshed the supplies.  They then released the birds outdoors.

 

Whether this was true or just a story they tell “birders” I don’t know.  And, unfortunately I can’t remember what airport it was.

 

Pam Dowd

Parker,

Douglas County

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