Late last year during one of many visits to Dorset Birds, I was drawn to some Cape Sparrows that were for sale.

I went home to research some information on the care of the species but all I could find was field guide information.

Undeterred I returned and purchased a pair. I housed them in a large aviary with a pair of Jacarini Finches, a pair of Bengalese, a pair of Quail and a pair of Chestnut-Bellied Starlings.

I put the hen in with the other Sparrows and kept an eye on them to make sure there was no squabbling, and all was well.

I soon discovered that the Cape Sparrow is a very shy bird and will always try to hide in the foliage whenever I am in or near the aviary.

Spring was nearly upon us and they didn’t appear to be showing any sign of settling down to breed at all. They had numerous nest boxes of various shapes and sizes to choose from and plenty of nesting material.

Unbeknown to me, the pair of quail had a nest hidden in the aviary and had hatched out 4 chicks. I did not know this until I discovered them dead! Also dead was one of my hen Sparrows.

The quail chicks were no more than a day old and it was obvious that they and the hen Sparrow had been attacked.

It was then that I decided the Starlings had to be moved to an aviary of their own. With this done I hoped the Sparrows would settle down to breed.

The Bengalese that were also in the aviary, belonged to my young daughter and they were sitting on 5 eggs, unfortunately the hen died, but luckily the cock bird went on to hatch all of the eggs.

It seemed to take ages for the Bengalese to fledge, and luckily when they did it was early on a Saturday morning and we were able to see them finally leave the nest. My daughter was over the moon.

Approximately half an hour later I went into the aviary to feed up and change the water. Upon entering I noticed one of the young Bengalese had blood on its head; I first thought it had flown out of the nest straight into the wire or wooden post, then my attention was drawn to the adult cock bird. He was very distressed and I then noticed another baby with blood on its head, its beak was so badly damaged he had to be put out of the immense pain it must have been suffering, immediately.

Upon closer inspection of the first chick that I found, it too was badly injured with one broken wing and broken leg. I also had to treat this bird in the same way.

I quickly gathered up the rest of the chicks and the cock bird and placed them and their nest basket in a double breeder. In no time at all, the adult male was feeding his remaining chicks and they all returned to the nest to roost. I am pleased to say, they are all still with us.

I felt awful, until this incident I really believed that the Starlings were the ‘murderers’, but it was the Cape Sparrows all along!

I couldn’t understand why they had done this, then I checked the nest boxes and discovered baby Sparrows. As I said before, the Capes are very shy and bearing in mind I only had the one pair, I was watching them daily for any sign of nesting, and saw none.

The box they chose to nest in was home made and oblong in shape. It was approx. 10 x 4 x 4inches with the entrance at one end.

I never once heard the chicks call from the nest box. Three chicks hatched, but only two survived.

Once the chicks were fending for themselves I noticed nesting material hanging out of another box, this again was another home made one and totally different to the first one; this one was the type used for Robins.

Despite the discovery of the aggressive nature these birds have when they have chicks of their own, I took a chance and left their first pair of youngsters in the aviary whilst they were rearing their second round. I was surprised to note that they did not attack these birds.

Again 3 eggs were laid, all hatched and fledged. It is not easy to determine their sex until they have had their first moult. My first two youngsters started to moult and I noticed what I thought to be a lump, but could also have been tatty feathers, on the head of one of them. Being ‘flighty’ birds I decided to not to catch it, and stress it, but to keep an eye on it. It seemed in no time at all, approx. 5 days after noticing the ‘lump’, I was at the vet with it. Due to the position of the growth, which was just above its beak, the vet informed me that due to lack of skin in that area it would have been foolhardy to even attempt to remove the growth. I left the bird with the vet to be dealt with humanely.

As the birds had been imported it was unlikely that there was any interbreeding, and the vet told me that although he had seen birds with similar growths, it is a rare occurrence, and I (or in this case the Sparrow) had been unlucky. Despite this, I check my other youngsters regularly.

The Cape Sparrows enjoy a diet of foreign finch seed, some greens but they mostly enjoy chickweed, and during the breeding time they also eat soft bill food, egg food, soak seed and mealworms.

Laura Bryant
November 2006