I know I shouldn't do it, but sometimes I'll throw stale bread or cake crumbs on the grass for the birds. Of course this just attracts the lower classes. Crows hang out on the wires and trees year-round looking for a handout. And this week there are suddenly flocks of starlings in the yard with many immatures. I suppose they are out with their parents, learning how to freeload in the city!
My Dad built us a nest box many years ago, and we hung it on the shed hoping for a wren or something nice. The sparrows immediately moved in, and that was it. They court and spark and raise at least 3 noisy broods each summer, and have produced hundreds of baby house sparrows over the years. But they are fun to watch and since no nice, self-respecting bird would nest in such a fetid box (I've never cleaned it out) it's no big deal having them around. Not that we could get rid of them anyway.
And it isn't hard to see why sparrows are so successful. The starlings like to torture the sparrow parents by hanging on the box and trying to spear a baby or egg with their sharp beaks. Starlings have beaks like needles, but not quite long enough to reach the bottom of the box. The sparrows attack back ferociously, clawing and pecking them on the head. A finch-like beak is no match for a starling beak, and the starlings are 10 times their size so you have to admire their bravery in defending the nestlings.
For more on the English sparrow:
http://www.sialis.org/hosphistory.htm
And the Starling:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/european_starling/id
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