Cavity Nester Nests, Eggs and Young Photos and Bios. Also see Nest ID Matrix (contents) and Egg ID Matrix (color, spots, etc.)
Keith Kridler took this photo of House Sparrow eggs from about thirty different nests in TX. Notice the variation in coloring and speckling. (A bluebird egg is in the bottom row for comparison.)
IMPORTANT: SOME NATIVE BIRDS also lay speckled eggs. CHECK FIRST before removing nests! See EGG ID Matrix
These are House Sparrow (HOSP) eggs from three different nests. Top left has a greenish cast. Top right is elongated. Remaining eggs are from a third nest. Notice variable spotting.
House Sparrow eggs from two different nests. One is unusually dark on the large end.
These two eggs were found in one nest (H-11 on 05/19/07). Notice the difference in marking.
HOSP eggs from the Hill Trail - again notice variability in coloring and markings. Makes me wonder about egg dumping. The photo below is in a different nest, with the eggs surrounded by feathers.
Notice plastic in nest.
Notice seed heads, plastic on left, burlap on right, and fiberglass insulation.
These HOSP eggs from Bickleton WA long atypically elongated to me. Zimmerman photos.
HOSP eggs next to lawn grubs. Photo by Keith Kridler of TX. Notice that the eggs (and the babies that hatch would from them) are about the same size as the grubs.
All three of these eggs were from the same nest. Kridler notices a lot of variation from the first to last egg in a clutch of HOSP eggs.
The House Sparrow is a persistent enemy of many native birds, especially those which frequent the neighborhood of houses, or which nest in boxes, holes or other places prepared for them by their human friends.
- Birds of America, 1917
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