Sparrows in Bulgaria are decreasing and that is a fact. Compared with 10 years ago, there are 30% fewer. Will this trend continue and is there a possibility that our beloved urban birds will completely disappear from our lives?

We hope not! We are proud to join the International Count the Sparrows initiative. This spring we’ll be counting all the sparrows we can see in a 10 minute interval. If you would like to join in, see the BSPB webpage.

Facts about Sparrows in Bulgaria

• Sparrows are very social and live in colonies. 
• Although sparrows do not belong to the group of waterfowl, they can swim very quickly when escaping from predators.
• There are cases of sparrows that live and breed in caves underground or others that spend their entire lives in warehouses, proving that they are very adaptable birds. 
• Sparrows can live between 4 and 5 years in the wild.
• Sparrows fly at a speed of 38.5 km/h , but can reach a speed of 50 km/h.
• Cats are the worst enemies of small house sparrows, killing large numbers of inexperienced birds soon after they leave the nest.

Facts about Nesting and Breeding

• Sparrows build nests under roofs, under bridges or in tree hollows, but also among the branches of trees and bushes.
• The male is responsible for building the nest . During construction, he tries to attract the female. She can help build further if she decides to pair up with that particular male.
• They are not territorial animals, but they aggressively defend their own nest from other sparrows.
• Until recently, sparrows were thought to be monogamous. However, recent genetic analyzes show that only a small percentage of eggs contain DNA from both parents (or in other words: both male and female sparrows are prone to infidelity).
• Most pairs try to raise at least 2-3 hatchlings per year. The moulting period takes only 11 days, and two weeks later the young birds leave the nest.
• Spanish and house sparrows often nest in colonies at the base of white stork nests.

Food for Sparrows

• One of the reasons why sparrows have adapted to life in settlements is the abundance of food in the past, when many domestic animals were raised in settlements. Today, in many places in Europe, they have learned to accept human-provided food in feeders.
• Sparrows are granivorous by nature, but they feed their young with protein-rich insects, larvae, worms, etc. 
• In our campsite we don’t prune many of our trees until spring, so the birds have the seedheads throughout the winter.

To find out more about other birds at the campsite, see #Nature on our blog. Also, you can read about The White Stork, which is our favourite bird in Bulgaria.