Have you ever tossed breadcrumbs to a small brown bird outside a coffee shop? Chances are, it was a house sparrow. Most Americans believe this bird has always lived here. It hasn’t. The first documented introduction of house sparrows in the US took place in 1851 with the release of 8 pairs (or 16 birds) in Brooklyn, New York, according to a peer-reviewed paper in the journal Biological Invasions. That one release helped trigger one of the biggest bird invasions in US history.
A scientist with a bug problem
