Freediver undoubtedly knows of this, but it's interesting: 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16489620%255E29677,00.html

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Oh yeah, that makes sense, we have those here too...though I don't like them, as they kill more beneficial insects than anything else.  But if it attracted the toads...then would that give you the opportunity to kill them?  And since they're poisonous (to eat), what is done with the dead ones? 

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It's much the same in Florida, where I used to live, and the various non-native lizards.  Where I live now, it's mostly house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and Common starlings.  Though since I do monitor bluebird nest boxes, I will not hesitate at killing the house sparrows.  Starlings I usually leave alone, since they do such a great job eating grubs (and of the Japanese beetle larvae, another pest).  Feral cats are not a problem, at least not for long out in the country up here, because the coyotes usually take care of them. 

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They are no more proof against dying out than any other domestic bird.  Just because they seem numerous, they can vanish very suddenly. 

I have not seen sparrows in the UK anywhere except at motorway service stations for years now.  They were once very common.  I think it was a combination of cats and habitat.

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House sparrows, or English sparrows, are not indigenous to the North American ecology.  They're actually not even real sparrows, but a member of the weaver finch family. They outcompete native birds, such as the Eastern bluebird, for nesting cavity sites.  This caused a detrimental collapse of such species, especially the bluebirds.  Even when bluebirds did manage to procure a site, the male would come in and destroy the nests, often killing the young of the bluebirds, and would kill the female outright should she have decided to protect her brood.  If you've ever seen a bluebird nestbox, and your bluebird hatchlings mutilated, the female with her eyes pecked out and her feathers plucked off, you'd know why I take such extreme measures against house sparrows.   Now, in town is another story, as they really don't have much cause for harm there, and there's so many of them.  But where I monitor nestboxes, I will do whatever I must to protect the native birds. 

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Thanks

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House Sparrows no "real" sparrows??? That is a quite americentric definition of what is a sparrow... Weaver finches (genus Passer) are among the first birds ever for which the english word Sparrow was used. Newworld sparrows (genera Spizzella, Melospizza, Amphispiza, Zonotrichia, Passerculus, Passerella and many more)...are no more or less real sparrows, most are birds that reminded the early settlers from Europe of the sparrows back home, so where named "### Sparrow" -- or birds that turned out closely related to those once official common names where already established. Passer, before it was a scientific genus, was merely the Latin word for a sparrow, an oldworld sparrow known then, that is. "Passer, deliciae meae puellae..." Catulls famous poem, written 50 BCE about a sparrow kept as pet by his girlfriend is definately about a Weaver. It is translated: "O Sparrow, that is my sweetheart's pet..." of course, not "O Weaverfinch, that is my sweetheart's pet...".

The orgin of the word "Sparrow" in other european languages as direct translation of this Latin Passer are also well documented. Saxon Spearwa, Gothic Sparwa, Oldgerman Sparo/Sparling. It meant "the bird that flutters/quivers".

Of course I am all for getting rid of harmful Passer Domesticus in countries where they are not native, but what I don't support is sort of a propaganda language that calls the Newworld sparrows the only real sparrows.

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I am aware of the taxonomy of House sparrows.   Let me expound:  they are not new-world sparrows.  I wasn't referring to old-world sparrows, because asides from the House and one other, there are none here on the North American continent.  BTW, I don't need any lectures about ornithological taxonomy, I've had enough, thank you, at the academic level.    

As for being Americentric, well, not in the true sense as defined in our current vocubalary lexicon,  but most people see things from their own culture's perspectives with more accuity than from other cultural perspectives. 

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RuthH, you seem like a very wise woman.  Does it seem to you that there are more cats outside than there were when you were a child?  Yet the birds are declining. 

Habitat loss is a big problem, yes.  I think climate change might also have a little to do with it, especially in the last ten years. http://www.abcbirds.org/climatechange/

What do you think?

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19965595-30417,00.html

Several trained, domesticated dingoes will head into the vast expanses on the Western Australia-Northern Territory border in September in a trial to help environmentalists track the toad on its westward march.

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http://ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1180952596/0

Encouraging the cannibalistic tendencies of cane toads could be the key to controlling their massive population explosion, new research suggests.

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