Harry

Probably just opportunist.  I have heard and seen House Sparrows on several 
occasions in similar situations (well light variety stores) out after dark 
searching for food.   Also, if you go into a large supply store like Home 
Depot they can be active in well lighted areas after dark.

George

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Henry Armistead" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 10:21 AM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] nocturnal House Sparrows


> "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
> Bellevue (or thereabouts).
>
> The night of Jan. 21/22 I drove from Philadelphia to Rigby and back 
> between
> 8:50 P.M., Jan. 21, and 3:30 A.M., Jan. 22.  One or two compelling 
> reasons.
>
> It was 18 degrees F. when I arrived in Talbot County.  The Pump House was 
> a
> toasty 52 degrees.  One doe near the road just south of Royal Oak at 11:51
> P.M., where I see them the most on these night trips and where I fear a
> collision the most, although I've had collisions on Route 301, 50, 13 and
> Egypt Road.  Just past midnight I could see in the moonlight that the
> entire cove was frozen.  Out on Irish Creek a small group of Tundra Swans
> was calling, 3 different calls, as evocative of the winter wild, and as
> beautiful, as anything I know.  One of the short calls they utter reminds
> me of the sound a small thrown rock makes when it first hits rather thick,
> hard ice.
>
> Preoccupied with some CDs my daughter gave me for Christmas (Schumann's
> symphonies) I'd failed to monitor the weather forecasts until well past 
> the
> point of no return.  On hearing that snow would start around daybreak I
> decided to get out of Dodge, coffeeing up at the sleazy Fast Stop across
> from Easton airport.  But on the way out, at 12:16 A.M., a Great horned 
> Owl
> was flying just over and parallel to Bellevue Road near Royal Oak.  Good
> view and I'm glad it missed the wires and that I missed it.
>
> Stop at the Middletown, Delaware, Wawa, for more coffee where at 1:56 A.M.
> there are 3 House Sparrows feeding on the sidewalk right in front of the
> store.  I approach them close enough to see they're 2 females and a male.
> They flush and fly out to one of the service bays to continue foraging. 
> At
> the Cambridge, MD, Wawa several times I've seen House Sparrows out and
> about over an hour before it starts getting light (e.g., 6 feeding there 
> at
> 5:35 A.M., January 19, 2004, a day when sunrise would have been c. 7:15!).
> Now I'm starting to wonder if they do this all the time.  If any of you
> have witnessed nocturnal behavior by these "Burger Kinglets", I would
> really appreciate hearing about it.  Please!
>
> "House Sparrow" by Peter E. Lowther & Calvin L. Cink (Birds of North
> America no. 12, 1992, 20 pages) makes no mention of this sort of behavior
> other than to note (p. 4):  "At night, sparrows may take insects attracted
> by lights."  Nice as these BNA accounts are, some of the ones on
> well-studied birds such as House Sparrow and Piping Plover seem a little
> short.  Lowther himself mentions that one 1988 study indicated there were
> 4,800 citations concerning the genus Passer.
>
> 3:04 A.M., a nice-looking Red Fox on Flourtown Road in Whitemarsh Road
> right across the street from a big development near Joshua Road.  On the
> way down the red neon sign of Ardmore Tire on the Blue Route reads 8
> degrees c. 9 P.M.; on the way back it is down to 2 degrees c. 2:55 A.M.
> Beautiful blizzard Saturday in Philadelphia at 10:30 A.M.  More goldfiches
> and juncos at the feeder than at any other time this winter, plus an 
> errant
> red-wing.  At times like this I wished I lived in Talbot County with some
> well-stocked feeders (and cupboards).  Of course, I wish I lived there
> anyway.
>
> Sun. Jan. 23.  While shovelling out 6 flocks of Canada Geese go over, 
> high,
> headed south.
>
> Tue., Jan. 25, A cardinal singing here. the first bird song I've heard so
> far in 2005.
>
> U. S. News & World Report, Dec. 27, 2004-January 3, 2005 issue.  As part 
> of
> its cover story, "50 ways to improve your life in 2005", on pp 78-79, the
> 41st way is to "Become a birder."  Nice, and thank you, but too bad the
> accompanying photograph will inspire no one.
>
> Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
> 19119-1225.  215-248-4120.  Please, any off-list replies to:
> 
>