The house sparrow

The sparrow in decline in Europe

In season, it is not unusual to see a tree swallow perched on a wire or on the clothesline, just long enough to catch its breath.

Photo: a correspondent from France

The house sparrow in decline

Agence France-Presse, Brussels

There is concern in Belgium, but the problem seems to be Europe-wide: the house sparrow, though one of the most adaptable birds on the planet, is seeing its numbers fall at a worrying rate.

"The house sparrow is of course not an endangered species but, year after year, both people's observations and scientific counts show an alarming decline," notes the president of the Royal Belgian League for the Protection of Birds (LRBPO), Roger Arnhem.

The ornithological association regularly receives reports from its members all across Belgium that this songbird is far less present in places where it was once countless.

"The sparrow is so common in our immediate surroundings that we often pay no attention to it. But one day, we notice that it is gone," Mr. Arnhem explains.

These observations corroborate the long-term surveys carried out by specialists: their figures differ, but the downward trend is the same.

The picture is similar in other countries, especially in the north (Germany and the Netherlands in particular). It appears to be the case in France as well, but the phenomenon is less noticeable in southern Europe.

In Belgium, the finding is the same, in rural areas as well as in the cities. And in Brussels, the highly respected Institute for Environmental Management is looking into the matter, wondering whether it might be an early-warning bioindicator raising "public health issues."

Article published in the newspaper La Presse on March 1, 2000.