Spring 2025 St. Louis, Missouri
video description: a Eurasian tree sparrow (montanus passus) perches outside its nest in a moon shaped hollow in an angry child deity’s head. It clutches a curled up caterpillar, peering into the nest to feed its young. The sound of birdsong and the distant discordant drone of lawn mower intermingle.
Two lore about Eurasian tree sparrow catch my attention. North America’s Eurasian tree sparrows all decended from a dozen individuals, which were brought to St. Louis by German immigrants in 1870. The primary reason given is they were afflicted with homesickness for a familiar sight and song. Its spread actually has been relatively small, residing mostly in the surrounding Midwest. The North American descendents now have different size, genetics and song from their German ancestors.
In 1958, Mao Zedong’s “Four Pests Campaign” sought to eradicate Eurasian tree sparrow as part of an agricultural and public health program. Millions were mobilized to shoot sparrows and beat drums to drive them to exhaustion, posters proclaimed “人定胜天” - man triumphs over nature.
Unfortunately it was so successful that the insect population the sparrows normally controlled ended up destroying crops, contributing to the 60s famine.