STUDY OF HOUSE SPARROW (PASSER-DOMESTICUS) FEEDING PREFERENCE TO NATURAL COLOR AND GUARD COAT BLUE COATED SEEDS

In the Canadian prairies there is a concern about flocks of migrating and breeding birds landing on agricultural fields and ingesting pestic ide treated canola seeds. We studied the potential of blue color coati ng (GUARD COAT) to repel house sparrows (Passer domesticus) from canol a and mixed bird seeds in laboratory. Thirty-six sparrows of equal sex ratio were distributed among 12 cages. On the average each group of b irds consumed 2.7 g (68%) of natural canola seeds and 1.2 g (32%) of b lue coated ones daily. However, both sexes lost weight on the canola d iet despite sufficient available food, suggesting that canola does not constitute a preferred diet to sparrows. An additional experiment wit h natural color and blue coated mixed seeds supported the above observ ations. The average daily consumption of natural color and blue coated seeds was 18.42 g (97%) and 0.49 g (3%), respectively. Both sexes mai ntained their body weights throughout the experiment. The results sugg est that, when offered a choice, sparrows select natural color preferr ed food and avoid blue coated and/or less preferred food.