Species-Specific Management (SSM)

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Eastern Song Sparrow

The eastern song sparrow, Melospiza melodia melodia, is beneficial to farmers and gardeners since much of its diet consists of a variety of insect pests and weed seeds. It is also valued by bird watchers, gardeners, land owners, and other nature lovers for its aesthetic qualities such as its songs and its tameness when fed.

Realizing the positive values of the eastern song sparrow, people can do many things to encourage population increases in this species.

  1. Get the territory size as small as possible to maximize the population. The bird's most favorable habitat can be provided by maintaining a field of shrubs with trees bordered by a stream.
  2. Prevent any open areas that have been provided for this bird's habitat to be mown since this will enhance the bird's risk of being killed by a predator like a hawk.
  3. Encourage farmers to provide such habitat on their farms by being certain that they know of the beneficial value of this bird for their crops. Perhaps, they should allow a field or meadow, wholly or partly, to grow into a shrubby area. Also, you should encourage managed areas that are moist and/or near water (a pond, stream, swamp, or river). If the area is not near such a body of water, then the farmer should be encouraged to construct a nearby pond.
  4. If the area in which this bird is desired has no nearby body of water, then a pond should be constructed. The pond should be close to a forest edge where the edge has been cleared to allow low dense vegetation to form.
  5. A large part of their diet consists of seeds of many grasses, weeds, and wild berries and fruits. You can plant and maintain many of these plant species in an edge habitat that is also near water. Such plants include:

    crabgrass, knotweeds, chickweed, pigeongrass, wild sunflower, dock, timothy lamb's quarters, ragweed, old-witch grass, gromwell, sheep-sorre, barnyard grass, purslane, wood-sorrel, panic-grass, amaranth, dandelion, orchard/yard grasses

    Wild berries and fruits include:

    blueberries, blackberries, wild cherries, strawberries, elderberries, woodbine berries, raspberries, grapes

  6. Plants which are important for nest sites should also be planted and maintained in edges to encourage the population to increase. Grasses, sedges, cattails, a wide variety of bushes and shrubs, and, though rarely, many tree species, are among the plants which are important to the eastern song sparrow for nest sites.
  7. Neighbors should also be encouraged to provide such foraging and nesting plants in the edge habitats on their areas for further assistance in raising the population.
  8. Also, gardeners may be convinced to provide and maintain plants in which these birds build their nest since these birds consume many of the weed seeds and insect pests that can affect gardens. These plants should be in edge environments that are moist and/or near water for the best results in encouraging a population increase.
  9. Also, gardeners and farmers should be convinced to feed these birds bread crumbs and sunflower seeds in order to attract and sustain a high population.
  10. Domestic cats are a major, effective predator. In the presence of cats, most other efforts will fail. Habitat takes a long time to reach desirable conditions but cat populations can change quickly.
  11. Managed areas need to be monitored in order to assure their success in maintaining a viable population.
  12. Written records of monitoring and maintenance need to be kept as a reference for future management.
  13. While many sparrows are migratory, some are sedentary. Thus, people should watch for any remaining birds during the winter and leave food (bread crumbs and sunflower seeds) out for them since food can be scarce during winter.
  14. In spring and summer, nests need to be checked for brown-headed cowbird eggs. If any eggs of this parasitic nester are found in the sparrow's nests, then these eggs need to be thrown out. These sparrows are frequent victims of cowbirds, and fledging success of sparrows is greatly reduced by cowbirds.

A contribution by Susan B. Horne, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321

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Last revision January 17, 2000.