Personally, I have nothing against house sparrows.

In the UK they are in decline — a 71% drop between 1977 and 2008 in both rural and urban populations. But un-scientifically, from my experience here in Toronto, the House Sparrow population appear to be booming.

At our place we seem to support an entire colony.

Maybe it’s the heated birdbath. Maybe it’s the near endless supply of food…

This week we decided to do something drastic.

Change bird feeders.

Our recently installed peanut feeder — guaranteed to attract wrens, chickadees and nuthatches or maybe even a woodpecker or two — has so far attracted zero birds.

But I won’t go so far as to say I miss my sparrows… yet.