This year too, the house sparrow ranks alone in the National Garden Bird Count. The bird was counted more than twenty thousand times in the Drenthe gardens last weekend. The animal thus extends its title from last year, when it was already the most common bird in Drenthe.
The stage is completed by the great and blue tits. Those two also finished second and third last year.
The election is not for show, during the National Garden Bird Count various bird organizations get a good idea of the development of breeding birds in our country. In addition to the more than twenty thousand house sparrows, just over ten thousand great tits and more than eight thousand blue tits were also counted in Drenthe.
In total, just over 4,300 people from Drenthe took part in the count. They counted a total of 75,000 birds in Drenthe. The province matches the national picture, where the house sparrow was also the most common bird in every other province.
This year’s election is extra special. This year, the Bird Protection Society and Sovon, which conducts research into birds, have chosen to make 2024 the year of the house sparrow. The bird may still be seen in large numbers in the Netherlands, but numbers have halved since the 1970s.
Many house sparrows have disappeared, especially in the big cities, although this decline seems to have stopped in recent years, reports the Bird Protection Society. The cause of this is the decrease in the amount of greenery in cities.
During the Year of the House Sparrow, Sovon conducts various studies into the bird’s lifestyle.